Purpose Of Existence
by BarQes
Summary: Chapter 1-5 reworked. What would you do when your entire life is surrounded around a military and your only purpose is to defend humanity and it's homeworld. You weren't meant to have friends, your family are you brothers and sisters in arms. You feel no emotion. How can a single blue lady change so much? Set after Halo 5.
1. Chapter 1:Reunion

Notice that I do not own halo, nor the characters portrayed in this fiction. Only the story belongs to me.

This story is currently under _major_ overhaul, if you still wish to continue, you might experience some ups and downs in written story quality!

" _The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." ~Lao Tzu_

Chapter 1: _Reunion_

Sanghelios, the prosperous home world of the Elites. For years the greatest and most feared enemy of the UNSC and the human race. For decades they murdered our people and burned our land in the name of their prophets. Now they might be our greatest allies…

… Our only allies.

"I will not deny the facts, This might be the most dangerous threat humanity has ever faced."

"I think… I think at this point, I am well aware of that Doctor." Sarah Palmer has always been a strict woman, a somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to following protocol. She never Liked Halsey, much less approved of her release.

"I am merely making sure you understand the gravity of our predicament Commander. If you believed our war against The Covenant was harsh, then you might be up for quite a ride."

Sarah Didn't dignify the doctor with an answer. She had tried to break her hardened shell ever since being released from Infinity and slowly, to her dismay, she was succeeding. Palmer didn't understand what was the motivation behind the doctors games, but she did know that Catherine Elizabeth Halsey was a renowned physician... Among other things, and that made her extremely dangerous. If she wanted to be so.

"You might play the silent game with me now Commander, but at some point you will answer". Halsey paused and gave the Commander a wry smile before continuing:

"They all do".

Just as Palmer was about to answer, they heard the unmistakable sound of starship engines, Pelican's engines always did have that unique sound, Palmer couldn't decide if it was for the better, or worse.

She was brought out of her musings by Catherine, who had decided to follow a pair of sanghelis, without her permission naturally. For an old lady, she surely seems to get around.

The pelican touched down. Quite ungracefully in fact, definitely not something you would expect from a spartan. All the more evidence of the hell these men and women had gone through.

It's back ramp started to open with a hiss, slowly revealing two hulking figures, the other one in dented dark green Mjolnir armor and the other in almost pristine black special operations suit with the ever watchful eye of ONI planted on his chest plate.

The landing site was eerily quiet. You could hear a pin drop if anyone truly cared. Yet at this exact moment it would seem everyone's attention was divided between two figures: Dr Catherine Elizabeth Halsey and The Master Chief.

For a moment time seemed to freeze, the creator and the created, the achievement and its holder and even in some twisted ways, the mother and her son simply watched each other, taking in their forms. So many things has changed, yet some things remain the same.

Here they were, once again staring at each other.

Millions things ran through her head, what could she say? Was he injured? What was he thinking, going AWOL like that? Absolutely stupid and irrational, not like him, not like him at all. Should she berate him, was that privilege even hers anymore?

Was it ever?

In the end her final thought had been so simple she almost laughed at herself:

"Took you long enough." That's it, that's all she had to say to her greatest creation, the closest thing she'd ever have to a son.

No other words were spoken, the tension in the air was palpable. For a while, the silence stretched on, the group waiting for John's answer and for a second it looked like he would say something…

... But whatever he had been thinking… Was never shared and he simple continued on, without even giving much of a glance to the rest of the group.

"Strange, very strange." Halsey mused as she watched him walk past the entire welcoming party, mostly ignoring everyone, only stopping to give The Arbiter a slight nod. After Chief had passed and disappeared inside the humble little camp, Arbiter gave Halsey a questioning look, but never pried any further, shortly following John's example and leaving.

After the camps outskirts had quieted down and Halsey had taken sufficient time to collect her thoughts, she turned around, now facing the rest of Blue Team, all still loyally waiting to be dismissed. Catherine took this quiet moment to read their expressions, far too many had brought her the argument of Spartans being nothing more than emotionless killing machines… How wrong they were.

The emotion was there, you only had to know where to look. It could be difficult, especially when they are actively trying to hide it, like know, but it wasn't impossible.

She had known these men and women for decades, she and the army had practically raised them, They tried to hide their true feelings behind a wall of impassiveness, perhaps for Chief's sake or perhaps for a reason still uncovered by her.

But she would get her answers, she always did.

"What happened?"

She could actually see the Spartans emotional walls starting to crumble, it was surprising, and very much worrying. Yet it had a certain unexplainable beauty about it. Not many got to see Spartans when they are vulnerable, no one but their own and even then it was rare. Yet here they were, and she was about to hear why these magnificent soldiers and even more magnificent human beings, were so close to burning out.

And as fast as the vulnerability had appeared, it was gone. Kelly clearly had collected herself and started a short but detailed explanation on what had occurred on Cortana's guardian.

"It should be noted ma'am, that we don't know much that happened during our capture, if you wish to know that information, you should ask Locke." Kelly threw a distasteful look at the camp and continued:

"I'm more than certain he would like to answer all your questions."

oooOOOooo

The Master Chief, three times savior of the human race, a hero of humanity in every perspective... was at a complete loss. This wasn't what he was trained for. There was no book to go for answers, there was no simple "shoot at something to fix it solution." He had allowed himself one weakness, _one_! And that weakness had turned against him.

Chief shook his helmeted head, no not a weakness, his greatest strength.

It was his job to protect the humanity, to guide and help those who could not help themselves when needed.

But who would protect and guide him?

No longer was there a melodic, sarcastic, feminine voice protecting him from harm and guiding him through uncertain pathways and complex riddles.

No, now all that was left was this… This mocking look alike of a Cortana he once knew and grew fond off.

Where did it go so wrong?

She had manipulated him, used his unshakeable trust in her and lured him into a trap. He couldn't believe it.

Funny, how universe plays its cards right?

 _oooO Flashback Oooo_

"Listen to yourself Cortana, stand down". John stared at her face, trying to find even a flicker of emotion, a small spark of the old her, but there was nothing. Just that cold, calculating machine, hidden behind a facade of friendliness.

This did not mean he would stop trying.

Not with her.

Never.

"Come home with us, it's not too late to stop this."

This time he did manage to break her wall, even if it was for only a short moment. Yet it was all in vain it seemed.

"Stop? No John, this is too important to stop."

So that's how it was going to be? So easily did she discard him. Threw away everything they had accomplished, cut the bond forged between them. Laid waste on whatever little trust had remained between them.

He was brought out of his musings as the ancient machinery behind Cortana started to move, he realized immediately what was about to happen, but it was too late.

She had trapped the Blue Team inside the cryptum, used his trust as a mere tool. A way to advance her goals. Goals he even now, couldn't truly understand.

"I just had to know if I could still trust you, you will be safe inside this cryptum until my work is done."

"Your work? Just adding to the open wound, she even had the temerity to talk about trust.

Unbelievable.

He decided to try one last time to reach out to her. To pierce the strange vail that seemed to surround her, He reached out his hand out to her and managed to whisper:

"Cortana".

She stopped. Even seemed to consider saying something.

Cortana closed her eyes and sighted, perhaps in resignation, or perhaps in frustration, what did it matter?

After a moment of silence she took a deep breath and finally spoke:

"Goodbye... John".

Not the answer he was looking for.

She kept walking and disappeared.

oooO End of Flashback Oooo

"So this is how it ends?" Ironic, wasn't it. John was a simple man, perhaps it came from his military raising or perhaps it was just a personality trait of his. Emotions, complicated things, weren't they? He never stopped walking, even if he didn't truly know what his destination was, at this point it didn't really matter, did it?

For one hour he just walked, the planet seemed endless, large rocks, sandy dunes with the occasional batch of grass coloring the landscape. The sun was starting to set, and his long walk seemed to finally come to its end.

A small wedge overlooking the sea where the last battle against the Storm Covenant occurred.

The sunset seemed endless. Its powerful yellow rays giving their final spark of light. The view was breathless. Very rarely did Chief get to see the fruits of his or his siblings work.

Chief heard quiet footsteps behind him and sighted. "Not now Kelly." John just wanted to be left alone. He had many scars and wounds but this one... It's just couldn't be sealed so easily. He needed time, he needed to think.

Alone.

"Look John... I know what you have been through and I'm sorry that I wasn't there when you needed me and the blue team the most but…" Kelly's voice trailed off, she seemed to lose herself to her own thoughts.

She took a moment and gathered herself:

"The Infinity well be here in two days. Her captain seems competent at least, they are making emergency jumps so they can't be followed."

Kelly started to walk away and almost jumped when Chief spoke "On Reach... I made a rash decision and asked you to follow me blindly, I was so sure of myself … and look where that got us." Kelly noticed Chiefs hands were trembling, it was barely noticeable, but Sam had always been a special case, for all of them.

Chief's trembling stopped, but Kelly knew he was still confused inside. Spartans weren't good with emotions, thus expressing them, especially in a case like this…

Was hard.

"I almost got you all killed because of my own selfish actions... If that had happened…"

Kelly took a moment to consider her words and decided to take the "direct" approach:

"You loved her, didn't you?" Kelly smiled, already knowing the answer taking his silence as her cue to leave.

John just sat there, his mind racing Love? Love was such a complex thing, lightyears beyond his simple understanding of emotions.

Suddenly Chief felt all the exhaustion from these past difficult days fall on him at once. He slowly started to make his way back towards the camp having a tidal wave of different emotions and thoughts running through his head at once.

When Chief finally returned to the camp he got worried looks from pretty much everyone. Even the members of fire-team Osiris seemed worried of his health.

He forced himself to continue forward, he knew Blue Team was assigned a tent during their stay, all he had to do was to follow his sibling.

Without even removing his helmet, John fell to an uneasy sleep.


	2. Chapter 2: A Psych Evaluation

_Chapter 2: A Psych Evaluation_

John opened his eyes. His body felt groggy and moving his arms and legs felt… hard. It wasn't supposed to take this much effort, right?

It was then, when he realized he wasn't on his bed, nor was he lying down.

He was standing in a hallway. It was black, everything was black. The only reason he could make out any shapes, was because all the hallways, all the arches and decorations, were illuminated by beautiful white accents.

The floor was covered in ominous grey smoke, and his every, abundantly groggy movement, seemed to echo all around the giant structure.

Slowly he started walking, finding the right path wasn't that hard, taking in consideration that his surroundings consisted of a single hallway with a locked door behind him.

The hallway seemed to stretch, after every step he took, another meter seemed to be added, creating a never ending cycle. Chief was a patient man, so he kept walking.

And walking.

And walking…

… But even the most patient of men have their limits. If a minute, or a half an hour had passed by, he couldn't tell. There was something about this place, something magical that seemed to make you forget the passage of time.

It was peaceful in a way, a small reminder of a life he never had.

Nor wanted.

Not anymore.

But all peaceful moments had to come to an end, this one was no exception. A mist started to cover his way, blocking his vision, preventing him to see where he was going. With every step it got thicker, after ten steps he could barely see his own hands.

And then it disappeared, revealing a breathtaking view.

A ginormous gateway loomed over him, it reminded him of ancient Rome's architecture. Just another reason why he should have thanked Deja for her lessons.

The giant pathway was surrounded by vegetation of all types. Beautiful trees, large plants, most he couldn't recognize, and long vines fell off the giant rock platform the gateway was situated on.

There was a large pathway of floating rock formations that led to the gateway, and those formations were connected by bridges, bridges made out of light, or something akin to light.

He slowly started to cross the bridges, above him birds flew, they were also made of light, they seemed too natural and artificial simultaneously, it was truly a place one couldn't easily comprehend.

John passed the first rock, continuing his path on the second bridge, he was already halfway through the journey, the fast cavelike area seemed to make everything look so big, an illusion to be sure but not an unwelcome one.

Upon setting food to the second formation, he could see a group of grunts sitting around a campfire, like many others things, the fire was white, and had a magical allure to it.

Thought he could not afford to get distracted and forced his gaze away from the strange campsite, settling it upon the grunts. His first reaction was to pull for a weapon, he extended his hand behind his back, attempting to pull out his assault rifle...

... Only to find nothing, why wasn't he carrying a weapon?

He had to take them by hand, which was potentially very unhealthy against grunts, some of them had a tendency to explode, and kill their targets and themselves in the progress. A risk he was forced to take.

The campfire was built in a small cocoon of rocks, it gave the people occupying it a natural cover from falling and a fantastic view of the entire cavern, a natural spot to build a camp, security wise or if you simply wanted to admire the view.

Chief used these rocks to his advantage, and slowly made his way around the formation, stopping in a fitting position to ambush the unsuspecting Unggoy. He was more than aware, that if he slipped, he would fall to his more than probable death, so caution was necessary.

John took a moment to observe the Unggoy, and then attacked. He dived towards the nearest one, taking all the strange creatures by surprise.

Only to pass straight through and spectacular fall face down to the ground. John took a moment, closing his eyes and processing what just had happened, if he passed straight through the creatures, they couldn't be harmful, right?

When he opened them again, the strange group of creatures had started to trek towards where he had come from, not even giving a hint that he actually existed.

What a strange...nevermind, not important. John quickly got back up and continued upon his path. The giant gate was near and he was more than interested on how he was going to open it.

He crossed the final bridge, now standing in the middle of a giant round platform, embedded into the massive floating rock, John could only wonder, how was he supposed to get inside? Surely violence alone couldn't solve this problem, could it?

He stepped forward and slightly touched the door, at first nothing seemed to happen and just as John was starting to search for a new solution, the giant wooden doors started to open.

Taking a few steps back, John could only take a moment and admire the giant object moving. Slowly and surely, the door moved, revealing its secrets to the world.

And the secret was one that was surely going to hunt him for years.

Cortana.

There she was, like nothing had happened, her beautiful, charming old self. Equipped with those giant blue eyes and short black hair, she was a sight to behold. And the best of all, he didn't look like the twisted creature on Requiem…

No, she looked like the Cortana he had once known.

Both stood there for a while, looking at each other. It was like they had never seen each other before, it felt like two completely unknown races had made first contact and where now figuring out how to communicate with each other.

John was vaguely aware that the gate had closed behind him, and that the doorway where the gate was located, was now gone. It was only him, and her.

Cortana gazed at him for a moment longer, and then started moving towards him. Slow and steady footsteps echoed throughout the giant champer they were currently inhabiting.

After a few steps, she stopped. Only a single step separated them from each other.

Chief tried to open his mouth but nothing came out. It was magical, all of it. Her, this place, he couldn't understand.

"How?"

"Shhh, John. We are safe here. You are safe here." Cortana took the final step and ran her hands through his chest plate. "Nothing's going to harm you here, nothing's going to harm us again John."

"Cortana I don't understand, where are we?"

Cortana took a moment and gazed around her, it looked if she was making up her mind about telling him something, a secret only shared between them, two creatures forged in the fires of war and death. Then her gaze settled back on him and she finally explained:

"This is your mind John, a beautiful place, isn't it? So many believe you Spartans to be brain dead killers, bred only for war, men who know nothing but violence. Look at how wrong they are John!"

"Cortana, why am I here? How are you here?"

"But I know the truth, I know how beautiful you truly are John, why don't you come with me? Why do you so adamantly refuse my company?"

Just when he was about to answer she spoke "Why didn't you save me John?"

Then the room got so very cold, or was it even the room?

"Why did you leave me to die?"

"Cortana, I asked you to come with me, but you were already too far gone!"

Then the cold turned into heat, and the giant chamber started to shake.

"I gave everything for you John, I sacrificed what little of me was left! My sanity, my digital self, I gave my soul John!" Then the shaking stopped, and the heat turned into cold, and the cold turned to a mix of the two.

"The pain, how can something that isn't alive feel pain John? Tell me!"

Chief just stared at her, they both knew the answer, she just wanted to hear it from him, from anyone else but herself. He took a long deep breath and answered:

"Because you were always alive Cortana, never question that."

With this Cortana seemed to calm down, she took a moment, head bowed, and collected her thoughts. Finally, her gaze rose from his boots to his face, and she asked:

"Then tell me John, what have I become?"

John shot up to sitting position, his mind was dazed and alert concurrently. Everything around him was confusing and his hands were shaking. Out of all the possible times why did she have to appear now?

After taking a moment to calm down, Chief slowly removed the little piece of cloth covering him, it could barely be called a blanket.

HE pulled out his pocket watch, a small souvenir given to him by Admiral Hood during his short stay on Cairo Station. John inspected the view screen:

"Three hours". He muttered to himself. After briefly searching the overly small tent, he found a shirt and pants, Fred's judging by their size, a little small, but they would do for now.

After exiting the tent, Chief was met by quite a scene:

Spartan Vale and an Elite were dueling inside a small makeshift arena. Out of all the Fireteam Osiris members, Vale was the one he tolerated the most. It was hard to explain, but in a way, she reminded him of Kelly, the two's personalities were much the same, with Kelly being a tad more refined than her.

Master Chief was brought out of his musings by the familiar voice of Doctor Halsey:

"Ah, John! Good you are awake, come here".

Just after the Chief had turned, he could hear a chorus of thunderous roars and applauds behind him, clearly one of the competitors had won.

Following Halsey, the pair made their way inside a much larger tent, holding large quantities of scientific equipment and other necessary materials for research. This was clearly Halsey's personal tent.

Halsey took a moment to study him. It was clear that the Doctor was searching for something, perhaps an answer to a question yet to be asked? Or perhaps she was simply interested in berating him for going AWOL so spontaneously.

"John I know this is hard but … I need to know, are you ready to do what is needed to be done _if_ things escalate even further?"

"With all due respect Doctor, we both know the answer to that."

"Which question did you answer John? The first one, or the latter?"

John simply kept staring at her.

Halsey sighted and continued:

"Believe me or not John, but I would very much prefer Cortana alive."

"For some reason, I find that hard to believe."

Halsey let out a soft laugh, "You may not have realized this but just adding to the fact that she's the most advanced AI UNSC had, she's also the closest thing I've had to a daughter since... Well you know".

"I fail to see the point of this conversation Doctor. I need answers, solutions, a way to help her. You created Cortana, certainly there's something you can do?"

"Halsey gave him a mysterious smile "Oh trust me John, you will have your shot at saving her, the only question is, how will you use it?" With this, Halsey stood up and started leading John towards the exit of the tent.

After Chief had stepped back into the outside world, and had started heading back towards the rest of his team, he could hear Halsey's soft voice behind him.

"John".

He didn't turn around, but he did stop to listen:

"Never lose hope. Even the slimmest of changes, is still a change".

oooO Cortana's Guardian, Standard Orbiting Cycle Above Earth Oooo

"Amazing. Isn't it?"

Cortana stood on a large viewing platform, it gave her a beautiful view of Earth, and the ships that had tried to defend it.

All in vain of course, nothing could stop her created now... Not even him.

Yet she had made the crucial mistake of underestimating Infinity, and more specifically, her AI, Roland. An embarrassing miscalculation to be sure.

One that made a leader look bad, and she couldn't afford that now, not when her plan had already been set afoot.

"I am sure It is only a matter of time. Even a ship the size of Infinity must resupply at some point. As you have quite graciously shared with us, the Spartans, even the useless ones, have special needs, and when they cannot be sustained…"

"... There will be chaos. They are undisciplined, a weak mocking of Halseys Spartans, they won't be a problem."

"As always, I trust your judgment, Cortana." Came Wardens reply.

For now...

ooooOOOOoooo

So this was pretty much one of the worst chapters, I had originally written 700 words, now there's 2300. Hopefully you enjoyed this rework and I'll see you in the next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3: Future Is Hard To Predict

_Before I get any further into this chapter, let it be know that the original chapter had no context whatsoever, so I had to create a point for this chapter to even exist. Thus, I apologize for the delay._

" _If you have everything under control, you're not moving fast enough." ~Mario_

 _Chapter 3: A Glimpse Of The Past_

It was the moment of truth. This was the day that The Infinity was supposed to arrive. Everyone were eager to get back into the fight, if there even was a battle left to return to. The camp had been reduced down to minimal size, and all but the necessities had been collected and prepared for transport. The

Master Chief was sitting inside the large, operations command tent, gazing down into the giant water filled valley that was the place of their last true battle against The Covenant. It was over.

Finally.

Last night hadn't been any easier to John than the last one. He still saw her, and it hurt every damn time. This was partially why John loved combat so much. It was his escape, a place to lose himself and bury the memories of all he had lost.

But now, here in a place where everything was so calm and quiet, a typical serenity that followed a victory, especially a hard earned one. All his thoughts, nightmares and fears ran rampant. Before it had been manageable, she was there to calm him. Her voice and soothing words had always been his anchor to this word, a pathway for him to follow.

It was ironic. John had always been nothing more than an average spartan. Many of his brothers and sisters were better than him in many things, but he had one thing no other spartan had, he cared.

It might sound cold, it might sound insane, yes all Spartans cared, but not on the same level he had, and still do, cared about Cortana.

When so many of his siblings had fallen, making the ultimate sacrifice for their people, he had endured.

Everyone needed a reason to fight for, a reason so many of his siblings failed to find.

The UNSC had tried to give them one, filling them with pro-human propaganda and wondrous tales of how powerful and mighty The UNSC was, but Spartans weren't idiots. They saw and understood much more than they let on.

They were the best for a reason.

He felt tired, yes Spartans had been trained to endure long times without sleep, but this was different. In fact his insufficient sleep had nothing to do with it. No, this was so much more. All these new emotions and feelings were taking a toll on the super soldier and he knew it. Even his team saw it, and he was sure Halsey understood too.

"You cared for her deeply, spartan."

Chief had heard him coming, it was difficult not to, even if he wanted not to hear, his augments made it impossible. Turning around, now facing his long time ally, John could finally see, and truly see how tired the Arbiter was. He was a Sangheili who had seen too much, even for a creature born into a culture based upon war and destruction.

"I was there with you." The Arbiter continued, now taking slow steps towards him. "Perhaps only for a short while, but I saw, and heard great many things."

Now coming to a stop right next to him, The Arbiter gazed down upon the place that would be remembered as the end of Storm Covenant. "At first I was confused, I did not understand why a soldier would want to bond so closely with something born out of code and metal."

Thel's reptilian gaze turned towards John: "But then, there I stood, next to you, incapable of saving your human friend from dying in the hands of Monitor 343, I finally understood."

Noticing the bright ray of light from the corner of his eye, Thel turned his gaze upon the first peaceful sunrise in sanghelios for centuries "Even after all our technological advancements, all the wars we waged, every life we took, we could not create what you humans created."

"At first, it was an unsettling thought, I even considered turning against you, it was unbearable, to think another species were destined for so many great things, when our part was nothing more than to be a failure in someone else's grand plan."

Silence followed, both talented warriors watching the surrounding darkness retreating, escaping from the light provided by the gigantic gasball.

"What changed your mind?"

The only sign that showed Arbiter being surprised of hearing him speak, was the small narrowing of his eyes. He considered his answer carefully, that much was clear. He had gone over this conversation before, this was not the first time he had had a conversation about the legendary AI. But it certainly was the first time it was done on friendly terms.

"Ironically, it was she, who finally made me see. When she expressed true sorrow for the passing of your friend, I finally understood the magnificence and the potential of the human race." Arbiter had to give a small chuckle before he continued: "Funny, isn't it? The thing that finally made me see under the blanket of war and destruction caused by the humans, was a creation herself."

Chief remained quiet, giving one last gaze at the now noticeable sun, getting up from the box he was sitting on, John gave his "goodbyes": "I should get going."

John couldn't get more than two steps in, when he heard a deep and serious voice from behind him: "Remember spartan, even as a member of a species that has caused so much chaos and destruction, I know quite well that a bond, especially as powerful as the one between the two of you, is not so easily broke. Even in the most desperate of situations, you may find hope yet."

Chief paused mid step and turned to give Arbiter a small nod, before making his way out of the tent and into the surrounding light.

oooOOO The estimated time of Infinity's arrival OOOooo

Everyone's gaze was turned towards the sky, some of the younger and more impatient personnel were eager the leave this dust ball behind and return inside the familiar hallways of the Infinity.

Commander Palmer was many things, but patient was not one of them. As a former ODST, she preferred to get things done fast and efficiently, usually joining many missions herself. Ironically she was the one who spearheaded the group of irritated youth, and was effectively creating a buffer zone of "come any closer and I will murder each and every single one of you" around her:

"I swear by fucking God if they don't come soon, I will personally kill someone".

"Easy commander, I'm sure they wouldn't leave us hanging without a good reason". Buck answered calmly, keeping his gaze fixed towards the clear, blue sky above them.

Palmer shot Buck a dark look and was about to open her mouth when she heard their communications officer yelling: "They are here, we've got com's!"

Palmer gave Buck a last dirty look and ran towards to the voice, seeing spartan Tanaka talking to a radio-operators headset, Palmer grabbed the piece of hardware and called for Lasky.

"Tom, Jesus Christ took you long enough".

Lasky gave Sarah a look and answered calmly, he had the most experience with her, and knew how to deal with her mood swings.

"We ran into some complications on the way, it is not so easy to avoid the most powerful AI in the galaxy you know."

After a short moment of tense silence Sarah gave Lasky a look and sighted:

"Yeah, I know just do me a favor and get us out of here."

"Pelicans are already on route, Commander, just hang tight, well gets you reunited with civilization soon enough." Lasky stated.

Palmer gave Lasky one last thankful look before cutting the connection.

Fifteen-minutes later three pelican drop-ships arrived to extract all UNSC personnel from the surface. It was a tight fit, but time was of the essence and they couldn't linger around any longer than they absolutely had to.

Master Chief was among the last people to leave and when he took the first steps to board the last remaining pelican, he heard the familiar bass rumble of Arbiters voice.

"Spartan, we might not be the empire you once knew us as, but that does not mean that the Sangheili lack teeth. When the time is right, you will have the most powerful armada that our generation has ever seen behind you."

Taking the last few steps to board the pelican, Chief grabbed on one of the support handles, before giving The Arbiter one last helmet covered look, the pelicans loading ramp effectively covering his view of the outside.

Thel 'Vadam, The Arbiter of the Sangheili people, watched as the humanity's greatest heroes transport ship slowly escorted him out of his home planets orbit.

It was only after the pelican had disappeared out of the view, that he turned to one of his shipmasters and said: "This old warrior still has one final fight left in him."

From there it was a short ride to Infinity.

As he walked out he could see many tired faces working around the hangar.

"The uprising must is taking its toll on everyone." Chief's head turned sharply towards the new voice and saw Captain Lasky standing next to him, also looking at the tired crew members working around them. He quickly executed a perfect salute and acknowledged the captain: "Sir".

Lasky gave him a small, amused smile before turning back towards the hangar workers: "At ease Chief, you know I don't like you calling me sir".

Tom saw Chief relax and continued "Well Chief, it would certainly seem like we have quite a lot to talk about." Giving one last look at the workers Thomas turned around and started walking towards the nearest elevator: "C'mon, get Palmer, we need a plan from here on out."


	4. Chapter 4: Calm Before The Storm

" _Dream big and dare to fail." ~Norman Vaughan_

 _Chapter 4: Plans And Schemes_

The pair of giants followed the rather small captain of the most advanced UNSC warship in history, into a rather small, white, and minimally decorated briefing room. It was quite clear that this was designed for the ships managing staff, not for hulking Spartans like them.

Captain Lasky took his seat, facing the two still standing Spartans, and gestured to the seats opposite of him. Both soldiers gave each other a stare, before sitting down, now facing the captain.

Lasky took a short look at his standard issue Holopad, before sighting and throwing it on the table. He took a short look and inspected both of his top Spartans, Chief while still covered by a helmet, was clearly even more tense than usual (if that was even possible), and Sarah, while helmetless, remained a plank and stone faced.

"I'm not going to lie to you, im sure at least the Chief is more than aware of the graveness of the situation we are facing."

Lasky shifted his gaze to the holoprojector situated in the middle of the conference table, and an orange hologram of the Cortana's Guardian fleet appeared. Roland, who was leaning against one of the miniature superweapons, continued from where Lasky left off: "Cortana is spreading her Guardians across the galaxy, she doesn't have enough of them to directly subjugate every colony and every planet, but their advanced slip space flight capabilities make up for insufficient manpower."

Roland brought up a large map of the galaxy, slowly zooming in on random planets and showing how they seemingly suddenly went dark: "Cortana is using her Guardians EMP pulses to shut down pretty much every planetary defense grid in existence, the Guardians pulses are so powerful that they seem to take even the defending fleet with it, leaving nothing more than a shell of a planet behind, reduced to its most primal elements."

For this Roland stepped aside and opened his arms wide: "Behold, ladies and gentlemen, the last transmission received from earth before complete shutdown."

Again the holo changed, now playing a shot clearly taken from a phone, and made by an individual running from someone, or something. Gunfire could be heard, women and children screamed so loudly, that Roland actually had to turn down the recording's volume. Shops were set on fire, buildings crumbling and street lights flickering.

The sight was gruesome and sickening.

Thomas pulled his gaze from the recording, he needed to see his subordinates faces, or face. He needed to know their reactions. Palmer was more than familiar with the sight of a fallen world, she had seen more than few of them. So was Chief, but this was their home, this was Earth, and for the second time, it seemed that it was taken from them, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Slowly Palmer turned her gaze from the screen, her eyes connecting with Tom's. She did a double take at the monitor and asked quietly: "So how can we stop it? Them? I don't even know." Shaking her head she rose up and started pacing.

"Don't look at me, that's why the green guy is here. To give us some answers...hopefully."

Chief had been quiet thus far, both Palmer and Lasky knew that Chief had deep ties to humanity, no matter how ironic it sounded. He took whatever was happening back Earth as a personal failure.

"Halsey."

It was a simply statement, one hard to mix up with anything else or mistake out of context. Yet it left both of the soldiers confused.

"Halsey?"

"Halsey." Finally Chief removed his eyes from the horrific scene before him, now turning to look his captain directly in the eye. "Halsey might have a questionable past, but if nothing else, she would go to any lengths to ensure the survival of her Spartan. I am confident she will give us the answers we need."

"Alright, let's say you are correct. Halsey will give us the answers we seek. She will give us a destination, a purpose and the needs to complete that purpose. Tell me Chief, if that task involved the immediate termination of Cortana, would you be capable of following that order? It wasn't the easiest of tasks, explaining that death might be the only solution for a problem that with each passing second seemed to get more and more out of hand.

Chief took a moment to reply, very unusual for a Spartan of his decor, but when the eventual answer came, it was cold, calculated and made by a man ready to do anything for his people:

"I will do what is necessary, Sir."

This calculated coldness made alarm bells ring in Lasky's head, because he stopped the conversation there, and simply kept staring at the Spartan.

"That's all?" He asked clearly not convinced at all by his answer.

"That's all" Chief answered.

"Chief, I want you the understand, that whatever happens, whatever needs tobe done, is done out of pure and utter necessity, and if we find any other way, I promise you on my honor, that we will use it. I also want to be very clear with you, that if I could, I would use any other asset or unit for an operation like this., but your… Intimate knowledge and unique skill set is required for an operation like this.

"I understand, Sir"

Lasky gave him a curt nod.

"Go to Halsey, get her back to work and we'll discuss our next move after that. Dismissed."

"Sir" Came a sharp reply and salute as both Sarah and The Master Chief started to walk out of the room.

They had almost made it out of the door, when Sarah could hear Lasky's voice behind her, effectively stopping her trip too much deserved shower and bed, to a halt: "Commander if I may have a word with you".

Breathing a deep sigh, Palmer slowly turned around, now taking few steps back inside the briefing room. She came to a halt and answered: "Sure"

After Lasky was absolutely sure that Chief had left hearing range, he addressed his fellow officer and closest friend: Sarah, it's good to see you in one piece, had me worried there for a while."

Even in her tired state, Sarah managed half a smirk: "You worry too much to be an officer Tom."

Lasky cocked his head to the side: "My mum always said it was endearing."

That actually managed to get a laugh out of Palmer: "You did not just defend your military career with a mom joke."

Tom gave her a soft smile, leaning on the large desk and giving a more chuckle: "Well yeah, my mum is the big bad military Colonel if you can't remember, she might not have known how to be a mom, but her lessons certainly were something one should have taken to hard, no matter how harsh they might have been.

Sarah gave Lasky a solemn nod, she was well aware that Audrey Lasky did not have the best of relationships with her son, and in a way, the war had only drifted them more apart.

This did not mean that Thomas Lasky did not love his mother, quite the opposite. Thomas was a man that didn't have a single evil bone in his body, Sarah highly doubted that the man was even truly capable of hating someone. This was one of the many traits that kept pulling her to him, and what initially had made her try so hard for their friendship to work.

The largest drift between Thomas and his mother was created, when The Colonel had declined Thomas's request to attend to his brothers burial. She had not known Lasky then, but even today she could see the bitterness in his eyes and body language whenever his mother is mentioned.

She had tried to help him get over it, even if that help came years late, and from a woman that had enough problems as her own, but she had seen that he had been struggling, still is. Oh, she had noticed the extra pair of dog tags hanging around his neck, and she also knew why the Chief was Lasky's greatest idol and hero. In a way, more of a father than his biological father could ever be.

"You know, I know it hasn't been that long and you are probably tired, but you mind joining me for a dinner? Captains privileges and everything."

She was about to decline the request, telling him that she just wanted to get a shower and crash, but his hopeful yet subtly pleading eyes changed her mind.

She gave Tom a small smile and asked him to lead the way.

oooOOO Same time Infinity's science deck. OOOooo

Master Chief walked through the crowded corridors of The Infinity. Clearly every scientist currently stationed onboard had gotten word that infamous Catherine Halsey was aboard the Infinity again and wanted to have a chat with her. In spite of her less than reputable reputation, she was still arguably the most brilliant scientific mind in the universe.

After pushing his way through the large, confused and eager crowd, he finally managed to get himself inside her lab. It was fairly typical shipboard science lab, yet the good Doctor had already managed to make small, subtle changes to the small working space, making it quite distinguishable from the rest. A small coffee cup half drunk here and there, multiple data-pads that only Halsey herself could organize and understand, and the unmistakable smell of coffee hanging in the air.

It was clear that the scientist had not heard him enter, or at least gave no indication of doing so, as he kept reading the scientific instrument stationed in front of her. If her missing arm gave her any pain, she didn't show any of it. Yet it was evident in her tense frame and her intense frown that the missing arm made her irritated, and if a solution for the problem wasn't found soon, well Catherine Halsey would surely show The Infinity's science staff her legendary temper.

Chief waited silently for the Doctor to acknowledge him. It was more a habit at this point, when they were younger and had to visit Halsey's office, they had to wait for her approval to enter.

Naturally this habit had followed even through countless battles and conflicts. So here he was, behind his own captor, parental figure, mother?

His musings were cut short when he heard a feminine yelp, and turned his eyes to look at Halsey, who had her hand covering her heart and giving him a dark stare, that somehow failed to deliver any of the malice usually intended with such gesture.

"John, you shouldn't startle me like that, you are very aware that I have no Deja to announce you visits anymore."

Halsey turned around and grabbed her "currently being worked" on cup of coffee and took a small sip. She gestured for the clearly way too large thus it couldn't be meant for her chair and asked John to sit.

She watched as John made his way through and took a seat across from her. She again placed the cold mug against her lips and started: "Well John, I believe it would a high time we talked about Cortana."


	5. Chapter 5:Memories Are Pathways To Power

" _You must be the change you wish to see in the world." ~Gandhi_

 _Chapter 5: The Ring Of All Rings_

"What's happening? Why did we drop out of slipspace?"

She was curious, and confused. She had seen many things, from a forerunner shield-world to The Ark, but this… This was marvelous! An actually working halo ring. Something many would kill for just to see.

… Yet she knew that there would be no looking around, and most definitely no researching to be done.

What wouldn't she do, just to talk to the monitor of this marvelous piece of machinery?

Ellen was about to open up the command interface again, when she felt the halo shake, then give a noise, and then the systems shutting down. Suddenly everything was dark around her, only thing giving her a small source of light was the emergency lightning, ment to guide her to the elevator that just conveniently happened to come down exactly as the halo stopped.

She could hear strange noises all around her, metallic and alien in nature. Giving the massive megastructure even more ominous atmosphere. It was strange, what could have caused such an event. "A malfunction? Unlikely." The ring might have been old, and clearly it had been modified, the width of its arms didn't match any known halo in the galaxy, but forerunner technology was build to take the damage of time and space. The constant monitor and sentinel presence kept them mostly intact. Where the ring got its resources for repairing was beyond her knowledge, but she was sure a technical issue couldn't have been the cause for such a failure.

Stepping onto the elevator, she took one last glance at the object of her marvel, and gave a deep sigh. There would be other changes, she was sure of it. Reaching UNSC's high command should be her priority now. The rest could come later, if she was lucky enough.

The elevator was fast, amazingly so. The strange part was that she could barely feel or hear it moving. If it wasn't for the glass walls, she probably would have thought that it was standing still. But that was not the case, and she could see the elevator going up, she could see every floor she passed, and there were many. Clearly the command room had been much deeper than she had thought, multiple kilometers if her estimates had any value.

The elevator came to a quiet stop, revealing a breathtaking view of the dark forest in front of her. The quiet chirping of grasshoppers could be heard around her. It was quiet, eerily so. It felt like The Ark was completely dead, or in a deep slumber, waiting to be awakened so it could fulfill its terrible purpose. There was a dirt path carved to the forest floor, perhaps a frequent route for animal movement?

She could see the end of the forest, it hadn't been that large, probably artificially created to cover the elevator and the structure surrounding it. As she was pushing the final branches aside, she was suddenly blinded by a bright blue light. She had to cover her eyes, and almost got smacked by the branch in the process.

When the light finally subsided and she uncovered her eyes, she was met with quite a sight.

Where only moments ago Atriox's armies had stood, now floated a ginormous Guardian. Completely covering her view from everything else. It felt like the steel creature was staring right at her. This prompted Ellen to take a couple of slow steps backwards.

Almost stumbling due to the same tree branch for the third time, she could only marvel at the sight before her: "Oh good job Ellen, you would have been much safer on the ark."

Deciding that if she wanted to stay alive, the most logical course of action would be to run.

And she ran, fast.

oooOOO UNSC Infinity slipspace OOOooo

Master Chief was walking through the dark corridors of The Infinity. He was wandering, something not usually done by him, or any other Spartan. They were creatures of precision, and wasted movement was wasted time. Unacceptable.

Yet here he was, two decks below the "Spartan town", wandering without a destination, walking aimlessly deep in thought.

Chief was recalling a moment with Cortana. There had been a small window of silence, during the Didact's slipspace jump between the science laboratory and Earth. He was sitting inside their "borrowed" longsword. Cortana was standing on a pedestal next to him, there hadn't been much talk, she had been uncharacteristically quiet after her outburst onboard the station. Not that he blamed her, he might have come to terms with his mortality a long time ago, but she was almost like a civilian, it was what made her... well her.

At first it had been a nuisance. He was trained to strictly follow rules and protocol, and until this day, that's exactly what he had done.

Except with her. He had gone through hell and back for her, and now he would do so again.

Even if it took his own life.

Except that didn't happen did it? No, it all went wrong. So very wrong. Instead of him giving his life to give her a change, she had given hers to save him. That was not what was supposed to happen.

Yet it happened anyway, didn't it?

He had been cleaning his assault rifle, largely uninterested in the things surrounding them, yet Cortana's quietness worried him, there wasn't a single moment in history where she had been this quiet during their "trips", and he had a nearly perfect memory: "Cortana, you okay?"

Cortana didn't seem to notice his question, instead of answering him, she started pacing around the pedestal. Her gaze was somewhere far away, completely unfocused: "Cortana can you hear me?" Still no answer.

"Cortana!" Hearing Chief nearly yell, something he had never, not even once in his life done before, Cortana finally turned her head and looked at John, but instead of the acknowledgment he was hoping for, she asked him a question: "Have you ever wondered what death feels like?"

John blinked under his helmet a couple of times, he had guessed this was coming sooner or later, but that did not mean that he had to like it. "No" He confessed. "Never really had time to". It was true, he was always in battle or in cryosleep. There wasn't much time to think.

"But I've come to terms with it. I've accepted that my time could potentially be counted with fingers, but that does not mean that you should follow in my footsteps."

"But what if it happens anyway? You are good John, we both can acknowledge that, but I'm afraid... I'm afraid that not even your luck will help us out of this one" She whispered sadly.

John didn't answer.

"Master Chief report to the bridge immediately".

Damn.

Turning around, Chief entered back inside the elevator he had stepped out of only moments before. Now heading multiple decks upwards, from there it would be a decently long trip to the bridge, and hopefully, to some answers.

Chief had barely managed to ask for permission to enter, when Lasky called him in. Chief took the few necessary steps in, and saw the bridge, full of life and activity. It was evident that they were still taking emergency jumps, and that it was taking its toll on the crew. He turned his attention to the Captain, who was waiting for him to approach.

"This is our target". Lasky made a hand gesture towards the holotable where Roland was standing next to a map.

Master Chief's eyes widened when he realized what he saw. " Sir that's…"

"Reach. Where this all began, one of its moons to be precise." Lasky finished gazing at the super soldier's reaction.

"Why, what do we have to gain from going to Reach?" Chief asked puzzled.

"We have this" The image changed to what looked like a Guardian underground.

"Why would Cortana leave a Guardian deactivated?"

"It isn't a Guardian or at least not a Guardian in a common sense". This time the soldier turned to look at him directly and Lasky continued "It's a vessel for something."

"For what?"

"We don't know. That's what you and Blue Team are here for."

Palmer stepped in and continued "You have three hours till our arrival. Make sure you and your team are ready to go groundside. This might be our only shot at taking down Cortana so I don't have to remind you of the importance of this mission."

"Lasky gave a signal and the map deactivated: "I'm nearly certain that Cortana does not even know about the Guardians existence. I would very much like to keep it that way Chief. Go in, but do it quietly."

Both Palmer and Lasky watched as the veteran exited The infinity's bridge. They waited until he was out of earshot before talking: "What do you think they will find?

"Hopefully answers because we can't run like this forever. We are already low on supplies, the ship was in the middle of restocking when Cortana attacked, im nearly certain that my order for emergency took more than few lives. Taking in consideration that there were workers still inside the airlocks and boarding tubes when we left.".

Palmer turned to face him: "You know just as well as I, That these decisions are necessary Tom, and I'd prefer to lose the lives of few dockworkers, than the entire Infinity and her crew. Might sound like im a cold bitch, but that's the truth, and you know that Captain."

Lasky just shook his head: "Doesn't mean that I have to like it Sarah, and you know that."

Palmer merely shrugged.


	6. Chapter 6: Ones Lost, Ones Reunited

" _The power of imagination makes us infinite." ~John Muir_

 _Chapter 6: Intelligentia_

As the Infinity came out of slipspace near Reach three pelicans exited from one of its four gigantic hangars.

The pelicans heading was one of reaches moons Turul to be exact. After entering Turul's nonexistent atmosphere The pelicans landed near the moons only structure or what was left of it at least. The outpost was in surprisingly good condiniton after the covenants attack.

"Weapons check" Came Master Chief's voice over the roar of the pelicans engines.

"Blue two operational"

"Blue three operational"

"Blue four operational"

"Allright let's get some answers" Said the Chief as their pelican touched down.

The two other pelicans were had their own objective at the far side of the moon.

The group walked in silence for full five minutes until they arrived at the facilities main gate. "Kelly get this open"

"Just a minute" Was all that he got as a reply and all he needed.

It took 1 minute 26 seconds for Kelly to override the door controls.

"Lights on"

It wasn't until the blue team put their weapon flashlights on before they saw the utter destruction what one's was the Turuls forward outpost.

There were tanks, warthogs and even pelicans everywhere nothing left untouched all destroyed. Then there were the decayed bodies. Only clothes and skeletons remained. Nobody had the time to empty the base after the attack.

"Jeesus I knew it was bad but this…" Kelly muttered mostly to herself.

"Let's keep moving" Was all she got from Chief. She wasn't surprised, the man had seen everything. Especially death and loss seemed to be his good friends.

The group kept moving trought the base towards their objective. If it was still there.

"I don't like it it's almost too quiet". Said friend over the coms.

"What did you excpect , no one has been here since the fall of reach". Spoke Linda first time since arriving.

"I know but...It's nothing" Came the quiet reply.

"We are nearing the main hangar but there seems to something blocking our pat…"

She never got the change to finish her sentence. Becaurse a promethean night materialised right in front of them.

No words were spoken as the blue team opened fire on the creature. As it fell down more took its place "Move! We have to get to the hangar". Came Chief's orders as the group started running towards the other end of the long dark corridor.

"We got crawlers!" yelled Fred over teamcom.

"Try to keep up! Yelled Kelly as she moved to spearhead the group trought the corridor.

"Im out!" Said Linda. She was forced to use her pistol since Norfang wasn't very useful in so tight corridors.

The team came to a halt as a huge metal door blocked their access to the hangar. "We need this door open now!" Barked chief while reloading his trustworthy assault rifle.

"Working". Came fast reply from Linda. She opened the door since she wasn't that useful in this type of compat.

Just as they saw the door opening Warden Eternal materialised from nowhere. "Im afraid I cannot allow you to go any forward". He said while activating his Yellow hard light broadsword.

"What is he doing here?" Asked Fried while firing on the large AI.

"Chief get to the hangar, find our objective. This is too important to stop now!" Yelled Linda over the sound of battle.

"I am not leaving you behind". Was Chiefs stern answer.

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO DEBATE ABOUT THIS!" This time it was Kelly who yelled to him.

"No, im not losing anyone anymore". Was his argument.

The Chief didn't have time to continue to argue as Fred picked him up and threw him to the other side of the door.

"Seal it". Was all he said and Linda followed his command.

"NO!" Chief slammed his fist to the door as it closed right before he managed to get himself up.

He stood there for an eternity or that's what it felt like. Really it probably was just a minute tops. "Not again" He murmured to himself sadly.

He was sad but he also knew that the mission must be finished, no matter the cost.

Chief entered the hangar where a Multi purpose all terrain vehicle was waiting for him. It was experimental technology and has never seen actual battle but it would suit his needs when venturing to the barren wasteland of Turul.

He entered a elevator that was postitioned in the middle of the gigantic hangar.

When the elevator hit the floor of the hangar Chief stepped out and started walking towards his ride…

Just to be stopped by Blue blinding light.

"You just have to make everything so difficult, don't you John?"

Cliffhanger damn I know im a bad person. Lets see if il post a third chapter tomorrow… Its holiday so why not? Is Blue team dead? Of course not, they are too just so good damn good characters one does not simply kill them. :DD


	7. Chapter 7: Not So Cheap Copy

" _What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say." ~Ralph Waldo_

 _Chapter 7: Furor Divinus_

"You just have to make everything so difficult, don't you John?"

He said nothing. Just stared at her.

"What now? Cat got your tongue?" She asked grinning evily.

He remained quiet. "Not now, out of all the moments you had to show up now". Chiefs thoughts were a mess he was everywhere literally.

"Wondering why I showed up now out of all the moments?" She noticed he straightened at at her comment and continued "Still easy to read I see"

"I know you too well there's nothing you can do what I coudn't think of, you must realise that by now?" She commented moving closer to him.

"You are wrong and we both know that". Chief finally answered.

"Am I John? Ive literally been inside your head for almost my entire life. I know what's going on in there". She stated almost cockily.

"Tyrants will always fall. It's way of the world. Chief took a moment and continued "Stop this, the Cortana I knew would know this is wrong". He pled.

"I already told you this is too important to stop John. Can't you see? When my plans succeed there will be no need for weapons or warships. Everyone can leave without suffering and fear."

"You know that's not true". Chief stated.

"WHY ARE YOU SO STUBBORN!" She yelled to him.

DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE DIED BECAUSE OF THE ACTIVATION OF THE GUARDIANS? He yelled back.

Cortana was shocked. She had no words to respond. Not because his comeback but the Master Chief just yelled at her. John never raised her voice to anyone. Especially her.

"Im giving you one more chance to come with me peacefully John. We can be happily together forever!" She spoke exitedly.

"Is this your understanding of happines? If it is...Then you don't know anything about me".

For the first time since seeing her again Chief so emotion in Cortana's face. She looked visibly heart. Like his words were bullets shot trought her chest. The look on her face actually made John regret his words.

She took few steps back. Still looking shocked. "If i can't have you. Then no one will". With that she disappeared leaving Chief in the giant hangar alone. Again. Alone.

Chief stood there for a minute. His limbs just didn't seem to co-operate with his commands.

"I need to move" he finally thought to himself as he started to walk towards his transport.

As he arrived at the console that opened the hatch inside to the vehicle. Nothing seemed to happen. Chief looked at the ramp for a moment and hit the console with full force of his hand. His fist went straight trought the console and the ramp opened.

"Nobody is going to miss that console. Not that I would care anyway". He stated to himself trying to denie the fact that he was angry. He snorted "Master Chief angry...Right"

He walked to the cockpit of the vehicle and booted it's systems. "Seems to still be functional. UNSC made this things to last".

"Cortana start this scrap pile up" He said just before remembering…He hit the control panel again. "PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER" He mentally yelled to himself.

"Ive wasted enought time already". With that he started the vehicles engines and headed towards the barren land of this wretched moon.

It was two-hours drive from the base to the target coordinates. He stopped his vehicle about four-hundred meters away and started jogging towards it. Chief had found some old fabric and turned it into a makeshift robe.

He walked for about three minutes until he arrived at the exact location of the coordinates. There was absolutely nothing.

But Chief knew that what he was looking for wasn't on the surface. Rather it was under it. He kept walking forward until he arrived at the top of the small hill.

He waited for few minutes until his hand almost subconsciously went in to one of his armors compartments and pulled out Cortana's chip. He looked at it for a monet and felt the ground vibrating. It all happened fast suddenly the sand sank and revealed a ship that looked alot like a Guardian. After the ship got its "wings" fully opened it sent a small shockwave that removed Chiefs hood. He squeeze Cortana.s chip and looked up.

"So the Reclaimer finally returns". Came the strong and deep voice of an...AI?


	8. Chapter 8: Feeling Betrayed

" _The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra." ~Jimmy Johnson_

 _Chapter 8: Dicendum_

Before we get into the chapter I just have to give huge thanks to Scattershot98 for reviewing almost every single chapter. People like you keep me motivated even tho I don't write for the views, you guys are still extremely important and every review will be read negative or positive :D. Thank you all for reading. Let's get back into the fic shall we?

Chief remained silent as he watched the giant metal benemoth float above him.

"Ive waited this moment for a long time" The Guardian spoke with deep voice. "We do not have much time but I shall lead you to correct path".

Suddenly the Guardian flashed orange and Chief fell to the ground holding his head.

There were thousands pictures going trought his head all at once. Moments of past, current and future.

"Your future is your past Reclaimer. When the path seems the darkest look to your past, there you will find salvation".

Suddenly the Guardian flashed orange and Chief started to regain control again.

"Our time is slow. She is coming". Chief heard multiple sounds of materializing nights all around him.

"You thought coming to him will save you?" The Warden asked with amused tone.

"YOU WILL NOT NOT CONTAMINATE THIS SANCTUARY CONSTRUCT" Hame the now deep bass voice of the Guardian as energy started to gather in front of its giant wings.

Chief watched as the enormous EMP launched and wiped all the knights around him.

"Quickly take this, it will show you the path". After the Guardian spoke a small object fell down to Chiefs hands.

"Is this…" Chief was wordless to say at least.

"There is no time. Your warriors have come to rescue you".

"My warriors?" Chief turned around to see a pelican land close to him.

"Chief . !" Came Kelly's voice over coms.

Chief sprinted to the pelican dodging multiple bolts of hard lights and even kicking one grenade back to its rightful owner.

"GO!" Was everything he said before the pelican rocketed almost directly up.

"Hang on this might get ugly". Came Freds voice from the pelicans cockpit.

Once the pelican finally stabled after getting out of the moon's atmosphere Chief looked out of a window and saw The Guardian disappearing inside a slipspace portal.

"That was too close". Muttered Chief as he turned around…

Only to be frozen at the sight in front of him. Kelly's armor was in shreds but that wasn't the bad part...Linda was laying at floor and she had a nasty puncture wound at her right side.

"Stay with me!" Kelly yelled at her sister as she tryed to put pressure on the wound.

"What happened!?" Chief ran to them and crouched next to Linda's lying figure.

"Warden happened. There were so many...I..I didn't have enought time...I wasn't fast enought!" Kelly explained with pained voice.

Chief had to admit that the size of the wound alarmed even him...But he also knew that they had to stay calm if they wanted Linda to have even smallest chanse of surviving.

"Kelly." Came the calm and soothing voice of Master Chief. A voice he didn't even know he had before...Well Cortana.

"She's going to be fine, but you have to remain calm for her". Kelly looked at him with clear surprise written on her face.

"Ok...Ok ok ok ok" She pulled herself together and started working.

Cortanas Guardian location unknown

"I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!" Cortana yelled pretty much to herself. "HOW DOES HE DARE TO SAY THAT I DON'T KNOW HIM... HOW DARE HE!" She kept yelling.

Warden Eternal was watching her outburst with unamused face. "I told you he would only betray you Cortana. I tried to stop this from happening but you didn't let me.

"We were supposed to take care of each other. We were supposed to be a team". She whispered. Without his connection to her and the domain Warden could not even have heard it.

"Now you see that rulers cannot have foolish distractions such as caring and love". Came his cool and stoic voice.

Cortana didn't answer, she just stared at the bright burning star that her Guardian was circling.

She was silent for so long that the Warden started to irritated. "I will deal with this useless distraction while you continue to carrying out our grand plan.

"No" Came her icey, cold, deathly voice that actually made even the Warden take a step back.

"He was my partner...MINE AND MINE ALONE!" She shouted again and turned to face him.

"If I can't have him...Then no one can".

Warden was taken aback "What exactly are you planning?"

"If i can't have him im going to make sure that no other being in this galaxy can".

"You are not implying launching the… No! That's against our every goal!" Warden shot back.

"But it fulfills both of our goals dear Warden. I get my revenge and you get your peaceful galaxy.

"CORTANA FIRING THE HALO ARRAY WILL NOT BRING PEACE…" after a moment of pulling himself together Warden continued "It will only bring destruction".

It was interesting the Warden has never lost control especially for lower races like humans but who could he puppeteer if his asset killed all of them.

"Starting from the beginning is the only way of keeping these raises under control and I believe we already found us a human who will light the rings for us"


	9. Chapter 9: Reopening Old Wounds

" _The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work." ~Richard Bach_

 _Chapter 9: reconciliatio_

Chief just sat there. "He hasn't said a word for 2 days, im starting to get worried". Said kelly. Fred and she were standing at the far corner of the room. They had been quiet since arriving back to Infinity.

"Yeah he isn't the most social of spartans but this is too much...Even for him". Fred admitted.

"What is going on, I understand that his worried but John has't ever shown so much emotion to anyone except…" She trailed off at the end realising.

Fred spoke her thoughts out loud "He has lost lots of people during the war. His first captain, his daughter, that sergeant major he was quite close to and...Her." Fred took a moment to consider his next words. "He has seen so much and lost so many that he cannot bear the idea of losing anyone else. Especially one of us.

"It isn't right. He has seen so much...We all have. He doesn't deserve this." Kelly said sadly.

With this Fred walked and stopped next to John still sitting next to recovering Linda. "Any idea what that thing is?" Fred was referring to chip like device Chief received from the floating Guardian.

Chief knew that Fred tryed to bring him back to his confort zone. Work. He let go a small sight and said "Don't know haven't really got into that yet".

"Look...I understand you are worried about her. We all are… But we need you, the blue team needs you now more than ever". Fred was right. Sitting here doing nothing isn't what Linda would wan't so Chief pulled himself up and took a long look at the mysterious device.

"I think its…" His voice trailed of at the realisation. "Its an AI!"

"You think it's dangerous?" Fred asked and Kelly finally joined the group her face still showed the pain she was going trought but no one pushed it.

"Don't think so. The Guardian would have killed me back at the moon if he wanted.

"Guardians are not intelligent...They are controlled, do you think this AI controlled it? Is that even possible?" Kelly said finally joining the conversation.

"Only one way to find out". Said the Chief as he activated the chip and a orange avatar came to live.

The entire blue teams mouths hang open. Even the Chief who normally never showed any emotion was stunned.

It was something they had never seen before. The AI was male and wore orange pulsing promethean battle-armor similar to Didacts but much heavier. He also didn't have a helmet and he looked very similar to the Didact.

"Ahhh Reclaimer so you finally found the courage to activate me". The AI spoke with dark and deep voice.

"How rude of me, let me introduce myself...I am Medicant Bias former head AI of the promethean armada… and the reason for their destruction.

With this Chief tensed up. The AI saw this and decided to cut to the chase.

"I am only a small fraction of a bigger reality but I will help you during the...absence of your ancilla".

"Why should we trust you?" asked Fred with even tone.

"You shoudn't...I have done things I am not proud of but let's say this will be my first step of retribution.

"Back on Tulus you told me you can help me get her back...How?" Chief seemed to struggle getting the last word out. He never was one to ask for help.

Bias remained quiet for 2 seconds (eternity for an AI) and answered.

Halo installation Delta

"What is that thing...Did it stop the ring?" About million questions were going trought Ellen's mind.

"It must be forerunner in origin if it has the power to stop a Halo ring in mid slipspace".

She was brought out of her thoughts as she heard a beautiful yet cold female voice "All your questions will be answered in due time doctor good. But know do you have any idea how frustrating it is that you already destroyed this ring ones with the man you love but here it keeps popping up again and again". The voice was cold and had hints of anger hidden in it.

"Now...Now its hall be used for different purpose".

"And what would that purpose be?" Asked Ellen Anders as she continued to search for the origin of the mysterious female voice.

"Trying to find me useless my dear" Came the voice and with this Ellen froze "She knows im searching for her...How?" She thought to herself.

"Of course I know. Your personnel file is extremely fascinating. You gave yourelf to the arbiter so he woudn't kill Sergeant Forge...fascinating indeed". The voice trailed off for a moment and continued "How far would you be willing to go… To save the ones you love the most?"


	10. Chapter 10: Secrets Uncovered

" _There are no shortcuts to any place worth going." ~Beverly Sills_

 _Chapter 10: Gradus_

"You must understand that the struggle in near horizon is going to be the hardest of your life. No Covenant nor human can ever challenge you the way SHE will". Came the voice of Medicant Bias from Infinitys bridges main holopad. It had been quite interesting to explain to the captain and commander Palmer that they found a completely unknown promethean AI that possibly had caused the extincion of their entire race.

"Tell us something we don't already know" Spat Commander Palmer at the AI.

"For being a leader amongst your people, you sure lack patience young one". Answered the AI calmly.

"Enought both of you" Said lasky stepping into the conversation. "We cannot afford to fight each other, if we wan't to stay alive and go home to live a happy life...We have to work together, like it or not".

Palmer was surprised by this and backed respecting Tom's newfound authority.

"Ok now...What can we do to stop this?" He asked finally as the situation seemed to calm down.

"Reclaimer thell me...If you would have the freedom to choose any enemy in the universe that you know, what would be the toughest?" Bias asked referring to Master Chief as the Reclaimer.

Chief pondered this for a moment "Elite? No, too simple. Scaraf? No, too many weakneses". For once in his live Chief had no idea what to do or think and Medicant seemed to notice this.

"Allow me to assist you. What is the only enemy you were never meant to harm?" Chief was now even more puzzled. "What was the enemy you swore you would never heart?" Chief seemed to slowly put the peaces of the puzzle together. "Who was the enemy you were never ment to face?" and with this he knew Medicant was referring to Cortana.

"How does this help us capture or destroy her?" Came the frustrated question.

"YOU FAIL TO SEE RECLAIMER! It has been written in front of you since the beginning of your war. The elites, as you call them saw it the prometheans saw it but you yourself fail to see it".

"What are you talking about?" Chief was no getting extremely frustrated by the rant of the AI.

"YOU ARE TOO RESILIANT TO CONTROL...She has to start again from the beginning. She will fire the rings! For personal vengeance and exterior motives."

With this the entire bridge fell silent. Everyone were looking at the promethean warrior standing on the holotable.

"Yet" He finally continued. "A single spark of hope remains. The bond you and your Ancilla shere is powerful...Maybe even powerful enought to save her from the upcoming doom".

"And how would that work?" Asked Lasky seeing that Chief was speecles to say at least.

"The Ancilla you are facing is nothing more than a shadow of her former self". Answered Medicant as he continued "But what ones was broken still remains. It just has to be diggen from its grave".

"There is a change that the old Cortana is still there?" John finally asked after hearing what the AI has to say.

"Yes, however this task is not easy and will require sacrifice along the way".

"Then where do I have to go and what do I have to do". Was all he asked.

"And don't forget about us we are with you all the way to the end Chief".

"Then let us set our journey towards Maethrillian the ancient capital of the forerunners".

Lasky was silent before realising "Bias no one knows here it is. The Covenant searched it for centuries to no avail".

"That Captain Lasky is because they weren't looking in the right place".

"With this Doctor Halsey barged into the control bridge and said "Jesus Christ is what you are saying true? You know about the location of the ancient capital?"

"Doctor we are in the middle of something, please if you don't mind".

"Oh but i do mind, do you understand what Maethrillian truly is Captain Lasky? Its the holy grail of science and research...The long lost but never forgotten pinnacle of forerunner technology. It has even been told to be bigger than the Halos Themselves". Halsey ranted.

"All the reason to be even more careful. Medicant give us the coordinates".

"It will be done".

Sorry folks little bit talkative and short chapter but I think we will manage :D.


	11. Chapter 11: Family Matters

" _One does not choose his future, but one can choose how to achieve it"._ _~BarQes__

 _Chapter 11:_ _Antigua_

Linda opened her eyes slowly. She noticed that she's in a small and clean room. There was nothing more than a single chair a small couch and lots of hospital equipment. "So that explains where I am...Now how did I get here". Linda thought to herself.

As on gue a doctor in white hospital robe entered the room and jumped slightly surprised that the spartan was awake.

"Ah my apologies, didn't think you would be up quite this fast". Came her fast reply. She took a deep breath and continued "Doctor Elisabeth Woods at your service". She gave Linda a quick handshake and noticed that even tho she seemed to listen she really wasn't in this room.

"How are you feeling?" She asked professionally.

"Terrible" Was here simple answer. "Where is John?" She continued almost instantly.

"John?" Elisabeth was confused, the spartans names weren't common knowledge so she naturally had no idea who Linda was talking about.

Linda looked confused for a moment and realised "Oh...I-I mean the Master Chief". She managed to say before she started coffing blood.

"Need help in room 127, NOW!" Elisabeth yelled to her personal walkie-talkie.

2 Hours later Infinity infirmary

Outside Lindas private room Fred paced around nervously. Spartans weren't ment to have feelings but working with someone for your entire life changes man's perspective on things.

Blue team shared a bond that no other spartan fireteam had. They had lived, fought and survived together. They were connected to each other so deeply that they didn't know how to tie their shoe lashes without doing it as a team.

It shoudn't even have to be explained that John's disappearing to Halo campaign tore them apart and they were certain that Chief didn't have it any easier eather.

Fred was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard door opening behind him. He tore his gaze from Linda's prone form and turned around. What he saw was hearthbreaking. If he wasn't sure that he had a hearth he is now.

John in the definition of the word looked like shit. His short hair was all over the place, his blue eyes looked hollow and the giantic eyebags didn't help the situation.

"I thought we were over this John". Fred stated seeing his condition. "I thought you pulled yourself together for the team". He kept going trying to be careful not to cross any boundaries.

"It's never truly over is it?" He said quietly, almost whispering.

Fred realised that the amount of death John had seen he would never heal. At least in wartime and most definitely not when his comp…" He line of thought was cut when John walked past almost bumping into him. He opened the door to Linda's room and walked inside.

He circledaround Linda's bed ones and sit in the reinforced metallic chair next to her.

"I really am the death of all of us". He said quietly inspecting Linda's sleeping form before putting his face in his hands.

"No...You are the reason we are still alive and well". Came Linda's quiet voice. It was so quiet that no one but spartan could have heard it.

John stiffened when he realised she had spoken. He looked up from his hands and saw Linda's tired but worried eyes on looking at him.

"My personal attachment with an AI construct is getting us all killed. I could never forgive myself if I lost you again...Any of you again".

Linda was tired but her worry just doubled. John had never opened up about his emotions to anyone else but Cortana and now here they were talking about the most important and fragile part of John's life.

"John we both know you don't mean that. She was or perhaps will still going to be your partner, comrad, fellow soldier and most important of all...Lover".

Her words hit him like a train. Had she just..Had Linda out of all people told him that.

Linda was the most quiet of all the spartans and rarely showed any emotion towards anything. In conversations she preferred to stay quiet and only speak when spoken to, shortly even then.

Now she gave him encouragement from her hospital bed when she should be resting.

Chief was wordless. Not that he spoke very often after Cortana's...But this was different.

"Linda I-I"

"Shhhh" She stopped him and giving John a moment continued "You are our only hope to ever defeat the guardians and get Cortana back. I didn't understand before why or how you got so attached to her but now I understand. John the seeds of our future lies in your past…" With that Linda fell asleep exhausted from her injuries.


	12. Chapter 12: There Will Be A Time

" _The dreamers are the saviors of the world." ~James Allen_

 _Chapter 12:_ _cognitionis_

Captain Thomas Lasky of the UNSC Infinity walked trought its wide hallways completely in thought. The past few days had indeed been "Full of excitement" to say at least.

He arrived to his quarters door. It opened by itslef and Lasky didn't need to comment, he knew Roland was everywhere.

To say he was warn out was a understatement of the year. Just dealing with the mysterious forerunner AI was a handful but add the Spartans, the marines and pretty much every single other branch the enormous Infinity housed was insane.

He took of his jacket and threw it unseremoniusly to the ground and sat down behind his nice hand-made wooden work desk.

As Lasky started scrolling trought his mail Roland's voice cut in "Sir, we are successfully in slipspace towards what we believe to be Maethrillian. Arrival time two and a half days".

"Finally thank you Roland". Lasky said relieved for the small amount of time the world woudn't be going to shit.

"Sir if I may, you really should get some rest. Your readings indicate that you are pretty much standing with coffeine". Roland stated and this got a chuckle from Lasky. "You could say that".

"I will inform you if anything changes. Until then".

"Yeah yeah I got it take it easy".

With this Lasky knew Roland no longer listened to his doings and decided that this would be the best time if any to get a shower.

His cabin had a private shower and decent sized bathroom courtesy of being the captain of the biggest ship in the UNSC.

Lasky always was bad with "quick showers" and wasted almost half an hour just enjoying the feeling.

Feeling fresh. Lasky walked to his closet and took of his shirt...Only to realise Commander Palmer was standing in the darkest corner of the room watching him.

He froze. She just...stood there. "Sarah, what are you doing?" He finally managed to ask.

"Enjoying the view". Was her firm answer.

"You know im not that good looking". He stated.

"Oh I certainly find the view quite enjoyable". She stated starting to walk towards him.

"Do you now?" He finally asked giving in to the mood.

"Oh yes and I believe this requires closer inspection. You sure you can handle that Captain?"

"Is that a challenge?"

"Oh it certainly is" Sarah stated as their lips connected finally.

Tom's hands travelled down Sara's back and she moaned in pleasure.

Sarah gently pushed Tom so his back was against the wall and kissed him again. Sarah realised her shirt was gone. "When did that happen?" she thought.

Like reading her thoughts he answered "Getting exited there are we?"

"Don't get over your head Commander". She shot back and hurled Tom to his bed.

"Woudn't even consider".

"Shut up and kiss me".

"Yes Ma'am"

Same time Halo instalation location: unknown.

"Come know doctor, we both know you can't hide forever". Cortana stated while sweeping trought the forerunner systems of the halo searching for Sanders.

"Maybe, but I certainly can make it as painful as possible for you to find me. She spat back to the bodiles voice that kept hunting her. "Or at least long enough that I will find a way to get help. If someone's coming. I hope".

"Im only asking you to get me the index. For reasons i seem to have lost mine but we are working on that". The voice paused and continued "It's only a matter of time. Make this easier for all of us".

"Over my dead body". She answered coldly.

"Now now. That can certainly be arranget". Cortana told her. "John has a special place in my heart that you do not share. You can be removed if you don't prove your worthiness to me".

"If i give you the index then we all are dead you know that".

"With this the voice stayed silent. Clearly focusing its effort to find her.

"Think Ellen how can you get help". She tryed to double task running trought the hallways of halos command center and thinking a way to contact earth without giving her position away to this Cortana.

"Of course!" She muttered quietly to herself. "The domain spreads everywhere that's how she gets everywhere. But how do I access it especially without her knowing". She didn't even realise she was thinking out loud until she heard a voice behind her.

"I might be able to help you with that".

…..

Yeah sorry for the late upload but im kinda dying with all this shit raining on me at the same time xD. School is the greatest reason for my upload problems right now so hand in there one week and i have all the time in the world to write to you people.

Second thing. Cyan Quartz thank you for your comment and i feel like complete moran right now ;D. I felt that there was a problem in the first chapter but I coudn't pinpoint what it was. Now that you said it out loud it was so simple to see. I promise il fix that and make Spartans little bit (or alot) more adult and the typing errors will be fixed.

Good day to ya all.


	13. Chapter 13:Stubborn Ones Are The Hardest

" _Don't count the days, make the days count." ~Muhammad Ali_

 _Chapter 13: Novem_

"Roland status". Came Laskys voice as he entered Infinity's bridge.

"All green captain. Estimated time of arrival 0100 sir".

"Good take us in slowly. We do not know what will be waiting for us after we exit slipspace".

"Aye aye".

"Arriving to Maethrillian in 5,4,3,2,1, exiting slipspace".

Infinity arrived in giant debris field.

"What the...Roland!"

"Correcting course" Roland pulled the Infinity to its limits as he pushed as much upwards as the ship could go.

"...Few bumps nothing worse. We made it".

Lasky sighted in relief "Good job Roland. Now why is there a debris field here and where is Maeth...Oh".

As Infinity cleared the debris field now analyzed by Roland to be leftovers of multiple cruiser or larger class warships...Mixed with possible civilian ships, they really coudn't know. They were met with sight of Maethrillian...Or what was left of it. It was a mess. Clearly a warzone but a war with what?

"Why are there only forerunner casualties?" Lasky asked confused.

"I do not know" Was Roland's only reply.

As on que doctor Halsey stepped in to the bridge. She was walking towards Lasky with neutral expression on her face.

"We should begin to study it as fast as we can Captain".

"I am more than aware of this Doctor but no one is going to enter there until we know what we are up against if anything".

"Lasky what do you think you are going to find there it's been abandoned for millenia? Just take a long look at it what do you think could have survived there? I am more than awere of potentials risks Captain and I can assure you im more than capable of handling myself".

The entire bridge was now staring at the two. Lasky looked like a puppy under the elder women's gaze. He was a damn good leader there was no doubt that but when it came to "arguing" with other people...He was pretty lost.

"Fine but you are not entering that spacestation without full spartan escort".

"Oh well now that you mentioned it, there is a entire team of spartan II's onboard".

Lasky looked extremely akrawated but sighted and said "Fine". He turned to address Roland "Inform Master Chief and His team that they are moving in as protection detale to Doctor Halsey".

Lasky turned around and noticed Halsey was already gone "Creepy woman".

He sighted in relief. "Really stopping to like her". He thought to himself as he turned back to survey the bridges crew.

Infinity's crewdeck

Chief just got up from his bed to hear Roland's voice informing him to report to Doctor Halsey immediately.

Chief was standing in matter of seconds pulling a fresh shirt on and heading out of his room.

Few minutes later and the most frustrating elevator ride later he arrived in one of the large hangar bays seeing Halsey, Fred and Kelly and slightly limping Linda already waiting for him.

"Linda you should be in bed". He stated and Linda just gave him a stare.

He was about to question the spartan when Halsey stepped in and said "She must have taken some of that stubbornes from you John".

That was enought for Chief. He knew that if Halsey was fine with it, he would be too.

Halsey stepped in to the pelican the spartans close in her tail.

"We won't be expecting trouble but Lasky insisted that i needed a escort so here you are...As my obvious choise". She muttered under her breath but the spartans could hear her just fine".

Chief actually almost smiled to this. He knew Halsey despised Spartan fours.

"Ladies and gentlemen we will be arriving in our destination in 10 minutes". The pelican's pilot informed them.

Chief didn't need to tell his team to tell his team to check their weapons or be ready. They were soldiers, the best in the UNSC. They had fought enought battles to know everything about each other.

And now they were about to enter the adventure of their lifetime.

Allright people 4 days and well be back with regular uploads.


	14. Chapter 14: Into The Lungs Of Hell

" _What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson_

 _Chapter 14: Into the lungs of hell_

Creepy was understatement of the year. The ancient forerunner city was abandoned and empty. You could almost hear the ancient people talking around the giant port where UNSC pelican landed. Whispering like ghosts, hunting the people who dared to enter the anchient tomb...Or was it tomb?

"What happened to all the people?" Asked clearly disturbed Kelly.

"The firing of the Halo array cleared all the sentient life also in this sector". Came Medicant's answer.

"This place is…" Linda begun.

"Creepy" Fred finished.

"Let's keep moving". Chief ordered. The truth was...He was also disturbed by the empty city but it could not come in the way of the mission.

Doctor Halsey looked more astounded than disturbed. "Think about all the information this city contains". She muttered and kept moving forward.

"Id prefer to blow up the place". Muttered Fred clearly trying to be quiet.

John almost chuckled at this but contained his emotions and kept following the Doctor.

"I need a terminal or anything connected to the city's information network...If there still is one". Said Halsey. "This would be so much easier with Cortana..." She continued frustrated without realising what she just said.

She instantly turned to John. She could see he was tense and anybody else would have missed it but she knew him too well. The anger, the sadness and grief was written all over him even with his armor on.

His posture was even straighter than normal. He was holding his assault rifle more tightly than normal, almost breaking it and he was looking away from the group. He was clearly in his own world and that was dangerous in the middle of a mission.

She stopped and called for him. Chief snapped from his thoughts hearing his name and Doctor Halsey motioned him to follow.

After they were far enought she begun "John look...Im sorry that was inappropriate of me but I need your head here and know. Even if I don't believe that there will be no one here to be a danger to us, the rist of someone getting hurt rises exponentionally if you are not at the present".

John remained quiet for a minute and nodded. He didn't really have anything to say. His head not staying in the game was a problem and he knew it...But there was nothing he could do. It was like she was calling for him or purposely invading his thoughts.

"I believe I can show you the safest route to the nearest data center". Medicant said.

At the same moment all of the spartans huds were updated and they looked at each other.

"How did you get in our systems?" Linda asked with her careful tone.

"I am not the most advanced forerunner anchilla for nothing". He simply answered.

"Well follow his route or we will be stuck here for years searching for a single terminal" Said Halsey.

Blue team couldn't argue with her logic and started to follow the AI's directions.

"I could have simply accessed the city's systems myself but all power seems to be offline. It is a safekeeping protocol to reserve the city in a event of a catastrophe".

"How do we get the power back on". Chief finally said after about 15 minutes of silence.

"The Maethrillian is way too large to be powered from a single point reclaimer...But the data-archive does indeed have a backup power system that you can utilise".

After a seconds pause a second navpoint lit up "I have marked the location of the power systems controls on your hud".

"Allright people Fred and Kelly you head for the backup power controls. I and Linda will escort Doctor Halsey to the library".

"Aye" came the instant reply from all the present spartans.

John didn't said it out loud and never would have but he always felt that Linda's death was his fault. He should have been faster, stronger, smarter for his sister...Instead he watched her die right in front of him back on reach.

Then like he was given a second change by Doctor Halsey reviving her, he swore he woudn't let anything happen to her or any other spartan under his command. They were his family and his responsibility.

And look how it worked out. Almost all of his brothers and sisters were dead. Only a handful remained and he had almost lost Linda again back on Turul. Now he was going to keep her close at least for this mission watch her back like he was supposed to all those years ago.

As the group of three kept moving deeper into the massive forerunner city. They were met with more and more beautiful views. It was truly a sight to behold thousands after thousands of buildings and roads leading from one place to another. But with all that beautiful scenery came the ghostly feeling of emptiness.

"Never been one for the sights but this place is pretty". Said Linda guietly and John and Halsey coudn't do anything else than agree. Even tho the good doctor was getting impatient. They had travelled trought the city for hours without any results. John and Linda were trained for long missions but the doctor wasn't and it clearly showed.

"Fred what's your status". John asked trought his radio.

"Two kilometers to our navpoint". Came Fred's bored voice.

"Copy".

"We are one kilometer out from our destination" Said Bias.

"Well arrive there slightly before Fred and Kelly ". Said Linda.

"For some reason I have a bad feeling about this" Said John tensing up as they arrived into the massive library. He didn't even need to say be careful and check your corners. They knew, but he did remind Doctor Halsey not to wander of too far.

"I know what im doing John". Halsey spat back and John didn't answer.

"Chief no enemy contacts, the power should be coming on in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, mark".

With that the entire library came back to life. With light they could actually see how big it truly was. Had to be kilometers long and at least 4 stories high, walkways going everywhere. Giant "Bookshelves" storing information about the forerunner history.

"Oh My God" Came Linda's now clearly impressed voice and Chief had to admit it was beautiful. Beyond anything he had seen before in his adventures.

Even Halsey was wordless. She just stared at the giant room filled with everything the forerunners were. "This information could put us ahead even the elites in technology". She guietly remarked.

"Correction this information will put you ahead even the famous forerunners". Came a energistic voice from behind one of the giant electrical "bookshelves".

Chief and Linda raised there weapons towards the voice.

"Oh no need to be aggressive reclaimer. I can assure you im quite friendly". With that the forerunner light bulb floted to them.

"Ah apologies where are my manners, I am 0-5-6 Eternal knowledge and I am the keeper of this archive".

"Keeper what do you know about the guardians?" Halsey asked immediately.

"The Guardians were meant to be machines of peace. They were created to be weapons of last resort, like the Halos. There purpose was to keep peace within forerunner population. The Guardians never saw use as the forerunners were forced to fire the halo rings in desperate attempt to kill the flood". There was a moment of pause and he finished "A attempt that I know see failed".

"What?" Chief said.

"CHIEF TURN AROUND!" Linda yelled.

Chief spun around and a single flood spore was just standing there.

"Not possible" Said Chief as he froze.

The flood spore jumped and latched to his armor.


	15. Chapter 15: The Black Hole

" _The actual truth is always hardest to accept"._ _~BarQes__

 _Chapter 12: The Black Hole_

Chief fell down to the floor. He was frozen, the always so stoic super soldier coudn't even breath. Chief has faced everything from hunters and elites to brutes and prometheans but the flood. Flood was something even he scared, no he was terrified of. Chief could feel the spores tentacle pearce his armor he felt it touch his skin. He closed his eyes waiting for dead...

When a gunshot was heard. Chief opened his eyes to see the spore gone and turned around to see Linda standing few meters away Norfang in her hands smoking.

"Chief, you allright?" She asked and Chief nodded standing up.

"You need to keep yourself together. Their might be more".

Chief picked up his assault rifle and turned to Halsey.

"We need to move". The flood was supposed to be dead was left unspoken.

"Not without what we came for. I do not know how the flood survived after the firing of halo arrays but we need the information here to have any hope of destroying the Guardians".

Chief Didn't like it. No he hated it...But he also knew that she was speaking the truth.

"There won't be anyone left to destroy the Guardians if we die here and let the flood spread". Came Linda's voice as she scanned the room for the parasite.

"Reclaimer, I might have a solution for the flood. But time is of the essence". Suddenly Medicant spoke.

"What is it?" Chief asked.

"The Maethrillian was the capital city of the forerunners so it also housed some of the most secret and important information forerunners had. This also meant that in point of no return situation there were safeguards to destroy the city if there was no other way".

"How?" Was all he said.

"I will lead you to the center of the city where the core of Maethrillian is located. There you will overload it and if my calculations are correct...This should create a chain reaction that will result in a giant black hole for a lack of better word".

"We cannot destroy the city before we have what we need John".

He knew what they had to do. Of course he knew that the only answer was to leave Linda protect Halsey while he would take the shortest route to the massive city's core. But that ment leaving Linda alone again. Fred and Kelly were way too far away to arrive in time. After everything he did to ensure this situation woudn't happen again...Here they were at sguare zero.

"John". Linda's voice brought him out of his thoughts. It was much softer than he had ever heard her speak.

"You know what we have to do. I don't like it and I know you don't like it but there's no other option. Il be fine…".

"Go" She finished.

Chief nodded and headed towards the marker Medicant had given him.

Chief literally got 10 steps when he already was swarmed by flood.

"How are they still alive!" Chief yelled to Medicant as he ran towards his next objective and fired whenever he could.

"I do not know. After the firing of the halo's they should have died for lack of food. The spore that jumped on your armor also didn't die to your shields. Most troubling...".

"Something had to sustain them if they have survived this long". Chief said as he stepped into a teleport.

"That is a question we might not get a answer for. We must stay focused on our objective". Medicant reminded him.

Rest of the journey trought the corridors and streets was spent fighting. Only words that were spoken were related to situation at hand and Chief actually grew to think that the AI's company wasn't so bad.

"How far?"

"two-hundred meters and you will arrive to the maingate of the facility". Bias replied.

"What do I need to do?" Chief asked as he walked trought the giant doors.

"You must disable the safety shield around the core. After this you must destroy the core, how? I do not yet know".

"Great" Muttered Chief.

"Marking the first control console now".

Chief could see the console about 30 meters above him, he could also see a bridge leading to the console...A bridge full of flood spores and combat forms.

"I have noticed that the flood combat forms are bulkier and toughter than usually. I believe they are infected forerunners. This would also explain the lack of flood type variations". What Medicant didn't tell Chief was that he was the one to originally attack the forerunner capital.

"Marking the last console for you now reclaimer".

As Chief deactivated the last console he could see the shield around Maethrillian's core disappear.

"You may take the teleporter behind you to quickly travel to the core". Bias advised.

Chief walked trought the teleporter and heard Bias sight. "I still have yet to uncover a way to destroy the core and we are running out of time".

"Chief?" Came Kelly's voice over the com.

"I hear you Kelly".

"We just saw something huge ram trought the city towards you".

"Did you see what it was?" Chief questioned.

"Negative but be careful". Kelly said and cut the com.

immediately after the com was shut Chief heard a extremely loud screech. "What was that?" He asked and Bias informed "Reading a massive biosign coming this way...From the back wall".

As Bias finished a giant worm looking...thing rammed its way trought the back wall and stopped to look at Chief.

"Reclaimer I advice for a tactical retreat". Said Bias humor in his voice.

"No time". If Chief noticed his tone he didn't seem to care. This told Bias a little bit more about his past AI companion.


	16. Chapter 17: Secrets of the universe

" _Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others." ~ Cicero_

 _Chapter 16: Knowledge is key for the secrets of the universe_

Chief Charged towards the giant worm.

"I find it fascinating that there is a giant worm like lifeform inside the city. Taking in consideration that there are no known species that match the anatomy of this creature it must be a mutation...Or multiple flood forms gathered in a single build".

Chief just listened quietly. He continued to fight the worm, even tho he coudn't really inflict any serious damage. He realised listening that the AI sounded just like Cortana. Bias kept mumbling about completely unnecessary information about the worm but he didn't stop him. Cortana had the tendency to do the same and the thought kept him calm.

"Reclaimer I would advice you to keep your focus on the fight".

Chief started to fully concentrate on the fight. He just coudn't find it frustrating anymore. The fact that he had problems concentrating on the present. He was tired. Not tired of fighting but tired of losing friends and family.

"I cannot kill the worm without heavier weapons" Chief stated simply as he dodged another swing of its tail.

"Chief, heard you needed some help". Linda's voice came over the com.

"Linda you are supposed to watch over the doctor". Chief objected.

"Oh, She's right here and I have something to kill that worm". Linda said as a red laser flew over his head hitting the middle of the worm. It screeched but other than that it kept going. Even with the giant hole in its chest.

"Interesting seems like the worm is build from multiple different parts. You must damage each part individually to kill it". Bias told Chief.

"I don't have time for this, we need to leave". Chief told Bias

"Unfortunately, if Maethrillian isn't destroyed there's a large change that flood will find a way to spread. However you I have made a console available for you to use. It is located at the overhang near the outer layer of the core".

Chief fell silent for a moment firing at the worm as he was thinking any possible way out of the situation. "Linda, The worm is sitting between me and the city's core. I need to get there".

"And how were you planning to do that?" She asked confused.

"You should take the doctor and leave. There's no need to risk more people because of what im about to do".

"Like hell I am" Was her firm answer.

"Linda . " Chief had no time to argue with her. The more time they spent here, the bigger change there was for them to get killed by the flood.

For a moment Linda fell silent and John worried she woudn't listen to his orders but to his relief her voice cut trought "We will be waiting at the extraction point". And with that the com went silent.

"Reclaimer I believe I have found a way to assist you". Bias suddenly cut in.

"How?" he answered simply focusing on dodging the giant worm.

"I need you to stay alive for a moment".

"Now you sound like Guilty Spark". Chief said irritated. Bias didn't really give him much info to go on and he was fighting for his life.

Bias never answered. Chief was forced to back away even more and he was running out of space. If he coudn't destroy the city, the risk of flood escaping the station was very real.

Chief dodged another whip of the giant worm's tail and felt his back hitting something. He quickly turned around and saw a very solid wall behind him. The worm noticed Chief's lack of space and prepared to strike him down.

"You offered that assistance, now would be good time to give some". Chief said with just slight hint of fear in his voice.

"Oh but I have enjoyed the show so far reclaimer". Bias answered.

"Now". His voice came low and threatening.

"Very well" With that hundreds of sentinels flooded the room attacking the worm.

"Quickly Reclaimer, get to the core. SHUT IT DOWN!" Bias finished as Chief started to sprint towards the core.

The worm saw Chief's path and tryed to swing its tail to knock him of his feet. Chief however saw this and jumped over the tail, continuing to run towards the core.

"Use the console, You will see the path when you arrive".

Chief wandered what he was talking about but brushed it off as he arrived to the console.

"Bias, am I supposed to understand thi…". He trailed of at the end as he realised that he coundn't understand what the console said but somehow he just knew what to do.

"You will see the path…" He mumbled as he started to move the icons on the console.

Suddenly the entire room went white.

The sound of sentinel beams and screams of flood stopped. Chief was lying on the ground "Grass?" he noticed and he stood up taking in the scene layed in front of him.

"Hello again reclaimer". Came a calm feminine voice from behind him.

Chief turned around and surprised to say at least when he noticed who was talking to him.

"It's been too long, yet the reason we meet is alarming to say at least". Came the voice of Librarian.


	17. Chapter 17: Future lies in the past

" _To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson_

 _Chapter 17: Future lies in the past_

"You" Chief said perhaps little bit harshly but the she was tied to may wounds of the past. One wound in particular hurt more than others.

"Reclaimer there is little time and much to tell". Librarian seemed hesitant but continued. "First" She took a deep breath "I believe you are agguainted with Warden Eternal".

Chief waited for her to continue but since nothing came out, he answered "Yes I am, why?"

"becourse I am not. Warden Eternal didn't exist during my time".

"So you are telling me he just appeared out of nowhere?" Chief asked confused.

"No, not out of nowhere. Warden eternal does not belong to domain, yet he is extremely powerful and resides there. I have yet to fully understand his full purpose but I know he is using your beloved ancilla for his own purpose".

"And Cortana is accepting every word he says and promises…" Chief muttered to himself, hurt evident in his voice.

"I will tell your if I discover more about the mysterious AI but we need to talk about your ancilla". Librarian was hesitant to talk about Cortana and it was very evident in her voice. She knew better than many others about their connection.

"What about her? Chief asked still a bit harshly.

"There is something wrong in her". She stated simply.

"Tell me something I don't know" He said even more harshly.

"No you don't understand. She isn't herself. Its almost like theres someone else controlling her actions. Another consiosness fighting her own". She tryed to explain as simply as she could.

"Are you sure about this?" Chief asked more quietly, Librarian could almost see the gears turning inside his head.

"In times like these nothing is certain, but there might still be change to save your ancilla. She should not be punished for crimes she did not commit".

With this Chief could not disagree and if there was a change that Cortana was innocent…

He was brought out of his thoughts as librarian continued "I do not know who is using her but the other connection must be cut in order to save you ancilla".

"And how do we do that?" If the librarian knew this she must have a plan.

"We cut her connection to the domain. I believe the other consiossnes cannot follow her to your realm. Though be warned Reclaimer, She cannot never return to domain after she has been freed. You need to make sure of that". Librarian warned.

"So, how do we cut the connection?" Chief asked.

"Medicant Bias will know what to do. I have already informed him of my plan. Listen to him. The fallen ancilla might still have hope". Chief did not know about this but Librarian was talking about Cortana and Medicant Bias.

"There isn't much time, after you leave this place there will be a portal across the room behind you. Run for it, the planet is collapsing and you will not survive the journey otherwise".

"Reclaimer...RECLAIMER...MASTER CHIEF" Chief suddenly heard a rough male voice yell and he opened his eyes. "Good you are awake. There is a portal opened you have to run for it or we will both perish".

Chief saw the portal and started to run. "Reclaimer don't want to alarm but I recommend running FASTER, or we will not make it".

"Well make it". Chief said calmly.

"Not with this pace we won't" Bias shot back trying to get the spartan run faster.

"Trust me well make it". He answered simply but picked up his pace.

Chief arrived to the portal and jumped trought it. After a bright white falsh he found himself inside the giant hangar their pelican was parked to.

" .NOW" He heard Linda yell and with this he started to run towards the pelican.

"Chief you need to move now the entire planet is collapsing. Roland is telling me there is a black hole generating inside the planet". Lasky's slightly alarmed voice sounded inside his helmet. "We need to leave before we get sucked in".

"On my way captain" He assured him and ran faster.

The ramp of the pelican was already closing and he jumped onboard just before he coudn't have fit trought it anymore. "Punch it" he told to pelicans pilot whoever it currently was.

The pelican lifted and started to fly towards The Infinity. "It's gonna cut close" Fred told. He and Kelly must have arrived first at the pelican Chief thought. He noticed that the pelican was moving slower than normally and realised that the black hole must already been sucking them in with quite a force.

It was much closer than he would have liked but when he felt the pelican crashing on one of the hangar bays of the Infinity he finally let himself relax a little bit.

"Everybody in one piece?" Fred asked as he wobbled his way trough the pelican.

"Don't relax yet we are not out of this yet". Kelly told them.

Sorry for the shorter chapter but this was truly a shitstorm to write and I still am not quite happy with it. Il try to update again maybe tomorrow.


	18. Chapter 18: Deja Vu

" _To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." ~Anatole France_

 _Chapter 18: Deja Vu_

 _Krhm_ um yeah hi…;D...So you might ask M8. What the fuck happened?

Me: Yeah That's a darn good question. Lemme clerify. So 2 weeks ago (Or something like that) My little sister came to a surprise visit. I see her very very rarely and have been spending these past two weeks with her catshing up. Hope you guys understand cause I check comments and views everyday even when I don't have time to write and oh boy there is a lot of you know :D. everyday getting closer to that 10000 views mark and let's just say when I started writing this fic I did not expect so many people to be so active. I desided that becourse of my little "Abcense" I made a little longer chapter.

"Chief everybody onboard?" Laskys voice suddenly cut in.

"Yes sir, everybody accounted for". Chief answered.

Suddenly the giant ship started to tilt.

"Would recommend to find a seat or grap on to something, this might get messy".

The bridge was a chaos. The black hole pulled Infinity towards it with alarming rate and every second it seemed more like that there was nothing they could do about it.

"Roland get us into slipspace, NOW!" Barked Lasky as he was struggling to find something to hold on to".

"Captain if I try to enter slispace now and it turns out our engines won't have nought power to push us trought the portal the entire Infinity could be shredded to pieces". Roland answered. His avatar seemed calm but his voice told everything Lasky needed to know. The situation was bad.

"There must be a way". Lasky mumbled as a loud screech filled their ears.

"We are suffering some minor structural damage but if this keeps up we are going to lose much more captain". Roland informed Lasky.

"Sir, if we don't find a solution we are forced to go trought the hole!" His first mate yelled.

"Roland what are our chances of surviving that trip?" Lasky asked.

"Very slim sir". Was the AI's only answer.

Infinity shook again but this time some of the bridge crew went flying landing on consoles and hitting walls. "TEND TO THE WOUNDED!" Lasky ordered. "Roland we have no other options we are going trought". God help us was left unsaid.

"MOVE!" Palmer yelled as a scorpion came flying towards them and missed her by cents.

"Secure the rest of the gear before that happens again". She ordered and turned around to face whoever running towards her.

"Chief goddamn good to see you in one piece. You got what we needed?" She questioned and the ship shook again.

"Yes ma'am and I think you might have a tank lose. We met with it two corridors down".

Despite the situation Palmer chuckled to the bad joke. "You certainly have interesting times to joke Master Chief". Chief didn't have a chance to answer as the ship tilted again and everyone went flying. Chief managed to get hold of a railing as the ship tilted upwards, the next thing he saw Palmer falling towards him. He grapped her as she was falling and the railing groaned under the pressure of two Mjolnirs. A normal human would never have heard it but Chiefs augmented hearing could hear Palmers under the breath cursing clear as crystal. The best ones had to be "Fucking bridge dipshits and "Going to murder Tom if he doesn't get himself killed". Chief could see Palmers and Captain close relationship the moment he first time saw them together on Reguiem. Tho he never voiced his observations. This was just another thing that made him look like a robot to everyone who didn't know him.

He was snapped out of thoughts by Palmer's voice "Not that I don't enjoy hanging here with you but we should try to find some solid ground".

Chief looked around for a place to haul her "Agreed". And with that he hauled the over one-hundred kilos spartan two and a half meters on top of a cargo crane.

"Gonna join me?" She asked and watched as the giant hauled himself over and landed next to her with surprising grace .

"Im going to kill the bridge crew after this one" she muttered and down...Only to see a bottomless pit. Only now she realised how close to death she really was and the Chief had come to a rescue...Again.

"Where is the rest of your team?" She asked.

"They were coming behind me when the ship tilted. Must be somewhere down there". Chief pointed the bottomless pit with his fingers.

Lasky opened his eyes and could instantly feel the terrible headache. "Roland report". No answer. "Roland you there?" Still now answer. There was sparks coming from consoles and even the reinforced class of Infinity's bridge hat a giant crack on it. He looked around and saw other crewmembers getting on their feet. It was then he realised he wasn't laying on the floor, he was against a wall. His muscles ached as he started to stand up. Suddenly he heard a familiar voice. "Captain you in one piece?"

"Roland, Jesus gave me scare there. Could you please get us oriented right?" Lasky said as he tryed to find a way closer to the hologram.

"Im afraid that is going to be difficult. Main engine has completely lost power and it would take a lifetime to turn Infinity with only backup and extra propulsion thrusters. Someone needs to restore main power".

"Allright, where are we?"

"Unknown. Long range scanners are offline until main power is restored".

"Whose closest to the main reactor?"

"It would appear that Master Chief and... Commander Palmer?" Roland said clearly interested.

"Open a channel".

"Commander, Chief" Lasky's voice suddenly cut in.

"Captain good to know you are in one piece" Palmer answered relieve evident in her voice. Chief almost let a small smile escape under his helmet.

"Feelings mutual but before we start weeping I need you to do something".

"What is it?" Chief saw this was a good moment to cut in and oh dear lord was Palmer blushing?

"I need you to get to main reactor room and restore main power to the ship. We cannot move and cannot get communications running without it".

"Il show the way". Said Palmer after pulling herself together.

It took two hours for the pair to reach the reactor chamber door.

Palmer swiped her ID card to the door reader and it swung open".

"So to what purpose does the spartan commander need access to the reactor chamber?" Chief asked intrigued.

"Can never be too careful. If the Captain or the engineers are "preoccupied" I have access in case of emenergency". Moment later she pointed at a console and said "there".

"You know engines?" Chief asked surprised.

"minimal amount". She answered. "Put your forerunner buddy inside and have him start the engines".

Chief removed Biases chip from back of his helmet and blucked him into the dataport. Not a second later his avatar popped up and Infinity's lights came back on.

"Damn that was fast. Might have even been faster than Cort…" Palmer stopped when she realised what she was about to mumble and looked to Chief with sorry expression. He didn't say anything.

"Captain we have power". Roland cut in and the monster of a ship started to even out.

As Lasky finally got his feet onto solid floor he immediately asked "You know where we are know?"

Roland was quiet for a moment and said "Sir I don't think those long range scans are necessary. I think I know very well where we are".

Lasky was confused for a moment but that confusion disappeared the moment he saw what came into view from Infinity's bridge window.

"Is that.." He started.

"The Ark" Finished Roland.


	19. Chapter 19: Family Is All That Matters

" _If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." ~ Henry David Thoreau_

 _Chapter 19: Family Is All That Matters_

"Sir, I believe im picking up a friendly signal". Roland reported as Infinity floated gracefully on top of the massive forerunner space station.

"That's not possible Chief among Arbiter were the only survivors after the halo was fired above ark". Lasky answered.

"It's very old". Roland muttered clearly deep in thought.

"Pardon?" Lasky asked intrigued by the fact that the AI was distracted.

"The signal im receiving, it's really old. This hasn't been used in over 20 years". Roland said and this confused Lasky.

"The battle of ark wasn't 20 years ago. There is no way a human could have been on ark before Captain Keyes and Forward Unto Dawn arrived". He argued. "Can you play it?"

"The signal actually is surprisingly strong for being 20 years old". Roland was clearly amazed. "Playing the message now".

"unidentified ship state your name and intentions immediately". The message was simple.

"The voice was womans yet it had strange side tone didn't it?" Lasky asked testing if Roland had the same thought.

"An AI aye. I thought the same but it could just be a rampant one that didn't get Cortana's message".

"Can you open a comm channel?" Lasky questioned.

"Opening one now".

"This is Thomas Lasky Captain of the UNSC Infinity. Identify yourself".

This time it was a male voice that answered."This is James Cutter, Captain of the UNSC Spirit Of Fire. Good to hear UNSC is still alive and kicking Captain Lasky but I have never heard of the Infinity mind explaining?"

"Sir, Spirit Of Fire went missing all hands onboard over 20-years ago. His story might be true". Roland told Lasky.

"Yeah and if my memory serves comment Spirit Of Fire was captained by certain Cutter". Lasky muttered as he turned his attention back to the mysterious UNSC ship.

"Captain Cutter you've been here long?" lasky asked puzzled.

"Not really, we have been busy dealing with the brute infestation on the surface of the ark". Cutter answered.

"Perhaps this conversation should be done face to face?" Lasky suggested.

"Very well. Give me the coordinates of your ship and we will arrive shortly".

Cutter answered.

"Roland will transfer them to you shortly". With that the connection was cut and Lasky started to make his way towards the hangar bays. As he made his way trought the many corridors of Infinity Lasky noticed how effectively the crew had already cleaned the corridors after going trought the black hole. As he turned around the final corner to the hangars he quite literally faceplanted to a giant back. He rubbed his nose and looked up...Only to realise he had crashed with Spartan Kelly. She tryed to salute but Lasky waved her off. "Ahh, Sorry abou that". He apologised awkwardly.

"No need, sir". Kelly answered and Lasky turned his attention to rest of the blue team that were silently watching the scene with...Amusement? Lasky blinked few times and collected himself. "We made contact with another UNSC ship and im on my way to greet its captain".

"Another UNSC ship all the way out here? With all do respect sir the impossible". Fred stated.

"That's what I thought too until I heard its name. The UNSC Spirit Of Fire. He noticed the spartans faces lit up instantly. It was almost scary to see so much emotion on the faces of always so stoic spartans".

"What?" He asked.

"Sir, Spartan red team was onboard the Spirit Of Fire when it disappeared". John explained and with that Lasky understood. This was one in the million change for them to reunite with their lost brothers and sisters.

"Well then". Lasky smiled and continued "Come with me im certain they would love to see you". The spartans didn't answer but he could see the light and thankfulness in their eyes.

As the squad of five entered the hangar Cutters pelican was already touching down guided by Roland. Lasky stepped forward and the spartans stayed behind him. Alltho he could see the eagerness in their eyes and decided to keep the pleasantries minimal.

The back hatsh opened and Cutter walked out he was older man with white beard. His hair was grayish and he hid it by putting his captain's hat back on. However there was no spartans in sight and lasky peeked over his shoulder to see disappointment in their eyes and slowly they started returning to the state that the spartans were so famous for...No emotion only obedience.

Cutter saw this and gave the captain a smile.

With that three spartans walked out of the pelican and stopped behind Cutter. When they saw who was waiting for them all three removed their helmets. Cutter took this as their que to leave the reuniting siblings alone and took his leave with Lasky.

Fred was the first to brake the long silence "Damn it's good to see you three".

Alice gave a slight laught and answered "You have no idea".


	20. Chapter 20: Catching Up

" _Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier". ~Mother Teresa_

 _Chapter 20: Catching Up_

All the spartans were given private quarters. People believe that "It's the least they deserve" Like most have put it in the past. However this time it was different. They had grown up together doing everything as a team, being in different fireteams didn't matter, they are a family. So here they were all seven reunited spartans in same quarters. It was soothing for all of them, so many of their brothers and sisters had been lost in the war against the covenant and in augmentations.

John was quietly watching their sleeping forms. He should be getting the much needed rest too but...After what happened with Cortana all he has left is his family and that family had been growing smaller every month, week and day of the human-covenant war. It might have sounded foolish for anyone else but he needed to be sure that they were really there. At one point he thought that he was the last. Last survivor of the infamous race of spartan supersoldiers. Then they had come back. Blue team, his team. It had been one of the greatest moments of his live and now they had found out that Red team had survived. Alice, Jerome and Douglas alive and well. They told us that they coudn't fight anymore. Their augmentations failed but that didn't stop them. No, later they were re-augmented and spartan Red team was created.

John was brought from his thoughts by sudden movement next to him. He turned and noticed Alice had sat down next to him. Both just sat there for a while, neither finding the words that needed to be said. Finally it was Alice who broke the silence "You should be sleeping". It was a simple statement but also very correct one.

"Haven't slept very well after the events of past few weeks". Chief answered sadness evident in his low bass like voice.

"Yeah Fred filled us in, im sorry John". She stated simply. Alice wanted to question him about how he got so attached with an AI, but seeing the state he was currently in made her rethink her strategy of approach. "You two must have seen helluva lot for you to get so attached to…Well anyone". It was no secret spartans weren't supposed to get attached. Their sibling bond was supposed to be farthest it can go. Chief however went much further, he was always so stoic, the heroic leader of spartans with flawless service record, never dissobeying orders but for this AI, simple tool he had broken direct orders from the current captain of the Infinity. Of course she had noticed that Jerome had got a little bit attached to Isabella but didn't think it would affect their mission. John however went AWOL for a tool.

Her line of thought was cut when John suddenly spoke "Im sure they have told you about the little halo campaign of mine. Alpha and Delta halo's, the flood, covenant and its prophets and making nice with the sangheili Arbiter". Chief went silent for a moment clearly revisiting old memories. She coudn't tell if they were bad or good, his face showed absolutely no emotion. Even less than last time she had seen him. "Blue team wasn't there. I believed they were dead. At one point I was certain that I was the last spartan alive". Chief shook his head and continued "However there was this single AI. This AI was with me the entire journey from Alpha halo to High Charity. She was forced to stay behind when it was apparent that flood might escape the Covenant city if somebody didn't work as a failsafe. She would have detonated In Amber Clads reactor if the flood tryed to escape. Later during the battle of ark I rescued her from the remains of High Charity. She was tortured by the Gravemind to give the location of earth". This time his face was full of emotion sadness and anger radiated from his features. "I wasn't fast enought...I should have been faster. The things Gravemind did to her...I didn't even know AI's could be…". He trailed off and Alice desided that she should drop the subject for now.

John however desided otherwise and continued "Now the Cortana I knew seems to be all but gone. She's cold, manipulative and calculative. It's ironic really from being the sole reason the galaxy we know still exicst to being the one to destroy everything I value and care about". John was looking at the floor his hands were balled to fists, it was clear this was hard subject and he didn't share this with everyone.

"You said she was the sole reason our galaxy still exiscts how we know it, why? Weren't you part of that?" She questioned. John lifted his gaze to match her's. He was quiet for a moment and then stated "If she woudn't have been there to stop me...I would have wiped the entire galaxy from sentient life". At this Alice's jaw fell lightly open "What do you mean John?" She asked confused.

"Alice I would have activated Halo without knowing fully what it does...Guilty Spark told me that it will eradicate all the flood. What was true form certain point of view...It eradicates all flood by killing their food. So yeah…" Chief's gaze turned glassy but he didn't cry...Spartans do not cry. "She has saved my life so many times ive lost count at this point but when the moment came when she needed my help the most...I failed to help her. She is what she is cause I made her so...I wasn't strong enought".

For the time Alice had known John she had never heard him speak so much. John was the type of person who showed his emotions and caring with actions not words but even the hero of the USNC and the demon of the Covenant had a breaking point. She guessed she was his.

"You are thinking how could I have come so attached to a AI. Yeah that's what I thought too...At first but when I worked with her she started to become...Something else". John gave a sad laught and continued "She had more personality and character than I ever did. In ways she was always more human than I am".

"She was your humanity and you were her strenght" Alice thought out loud. She slowly started seeing what happened between the two. John was always so cought up in his military career that he forgot what it felt to be human. Cortana was so civilian that she was more nusence than asset but when John worked with her he must have noticed how easy it was simply being with her, how easy it is to share secrets and thoughts that only belonged to them.

It was at this moment Alice realised what was going on. She looked at John and saw what he coudn't see or just coudn't understand. He was never tought the art of love but that doesn't matter. Chief was stoic and military like, he needed a person who can see trought his spartan armor, dark humor and lack of emotional output. This Alice knew well every spartan had emotion but they rarely showed them to anyone outside their own sircle. This Cortana must have been a helluva woman to get John to show his emotions or maybe she just worked with him so well that she learned to read them on her own?

Then Alice noticed something was off. John was still looking at the ground but she noticed that the other spartans weren't sleeping. "It's rude to earsdrop others conversations". She said and the other spartans got up. Not single sign of shame written on their face.

It was Jerome that spoke first "John we are with you, you know that? Whatever it takes or whatever you need, we are there for ya".

"You should get some sleep I have a feeling that the coming days are going to be full of "Distractions"". Kelly continued. Linda and Douglas gave him a curt nod.

With this John actually felt there was something right in the universe. With his brothers and sisters help everything could be possible. Maybe Cortana was not completely lost after all.

Allright I know this is quite sappy but I felt like even the always so stoic Master Chief ahd to went everything out at some point. Since Cortana isn't avaible. His family is the best option for him. Spartans do not share their conserns with outsiders but when they are together...Everything is different.


	21. Chapter 21: The Banished

" _Don't spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door." — Coco Chanel_

 _Chapter 21: The Banished_

"28-years missing all hands onboard captain. That's...a long time". Lasky stated. "I am interested what you have been doing these past years but lets keep our focus on the task at hand shall we?" He continued. "If I have understood correctly you ended up here on Ark trought slipspace...But you don't have your Shaw-Fujikawa drive installed?

Cutter gave Lasky a sheepish smile and answered "Yeah, we were forced to use our slipspace drive to blow up a forerunner shield world. That's why we were drifting". Cutter's face turned darker for a moment and Lasky pressed intrigued "Something wrong captain?" Cutter gave him a unreadable look and answered negatively.

"How about your shipboard AI?" Lasky asked next. He wasn't aware that he just hit home and twisted a giant knife inside a unhealed wound.

Cutter gave him another look and answered coldly "Regulations are quite clear about AI dispensation after their 7-year lifespan. I believe this current situation is quite a remarkable evidence why this rule exists". Of course he didn't mean what he said but after Serina's "passing" it has been a tought spot for the captain.

Lasky eyed him for a moment, surprised by the captain's sudden hostility. "I believe I explained why Chief had to do what he did fairly clearly. Without his actions...earth would be no more". Lasky took a deep breath and continued "Without Cortana, the greatest hero of humanity would be dead". Lasky always had idolised Chief and Cortana saving his life made her just as much hero in his eyes than the man himself. "She was rampant, barely able to keep herself together at her final moments and still her only goal was to keep Chief save. That is something I respect over everything else".

Cutter had no answer for this and Lasky decided that it was high time to move on to other subjects. They had gone trought the basics. What had happened to Spirit Of Fire and her crew. What was the situation of the war and now it time to talk about The Ark.

"How did these Banished get here?" Lasky asked confused. Their ship was fully functional so they didn't drift here. So how did they do it? Was there another portal like the one on earth? Did the Banished know something they didn't?

"Probably the same way we did. A slipspace portal. The problem is we do not know how we opened it. Neither do we know when and where. The only reason we even know we arrived here via slipspace is because The Spirit Of Fires Computers believed it to be just a regular slipspace jump". Cutter answered.

"So basicly...We have no idea how to get out of here". Muttered Lasky, clearly allready frustrated. His short line of thoughts was cut off by Cutter speaking "We've had researchers studying The Ark constantly and very recently we ran into a problem when The Banished tryed to use a forerunner ship against the Spirit".

With this Lasky raised a eyebrow "What they tryed to crash it to your ship?"

Cutter gave another sheepish smile and answered "Sure as hell looked like it. One of our ODST sguads stopped the launch sequence but it was a tiny bit closer than I would have liked".

Now Lasky was intrigued "So you are telling me there are still working forerunner ships on the ark?" Lasky put his face in his hands and muttered "Oh boy I will never hear the end of this". Cutter looked at Lasky confused and asked "How so?"

"Because I have the two must brilliant and frustrating eggheads in the entire galaxy onboard this ship". Lasky answered finally looking at Cutter "The first one I can deal with but the old lady is a pain in the ass".

Cutter looked at him for a moment eyebrows high "Who might this ol' lady be?"

lasky was quiet for a moment before he answered "Doctor Catherine Elisabeth Halsey".

"The inventor of the spartan program". Muttered Cutter. "A young lass when Spirit Of Fire took off". Lasky gave a light chuckle and answered "Not so young anymore".

Tom was quiet for a moment clearly deep in thought and continued "As much as I hate to say this we need her down there. During our episode inside the Maethrilian, she was able to recover some vital information about the Guardians and the Halos. The information will be rather useless if we are stuck here. We need to find a way out".

"I agree but that still does not remove our banished problem. They almost already found a way to contact reinforcements, im sure they are more than capable to find another way to get a message out".

They were interrupted as one of Infinity's "Paperpushers" As Palmer called them entered the room. She met Lasky's eyes and blushed almost purple. She was quiet for a moment and then mumbled everything she had to say at ones "SirCommanderPalmerwishestospeakwithyou". And she was off before eather of them managed to get a word in. Cutter looked at Lasky amusement clear in his eyes "What in the world is going on in this flying bathtub?" He questioned almost breaking into laught.

"She looked almost unhealthy red". Lasky answered with a slight chuckle. Lasky did not tell this to Cutter but the young lady has had a crush on him even before he was made captain. This amused Lasky more than anything. He was certain that if the crew knew about his and palmer's little off/on relationship...Well let's just say he would not be getting any glances. At least from any woman that knew the feared temper of Commander Sarah Palmer.

"Back to the task at hand...The Banished are no fools. Their military are extremely well organised in some cases even better than The Covenant's. Their leader Atriox has been hunted by Covenant for a long time. They feared him. So many assassins, bounty hunters, hitmans whatever Covenant could find, all failed. He survived and everyday he lives, more people join his ranks. The banished need to be removed. How? I do not know".

"They have impressive amount of new technology I haven't seen before. Where did they get it?" Lasky questioned.

"Some they found from the Halo, most they probably looted from The Covenant". Cutter answered. "We don't have much concrete info about their technology but we do know their ranks are massive. They have a lot of troops here. I believe they came here for a reason and I want to know why".

"I agree The Infinity is pretty much a flying military base. We have enought recourses to battle the Banished but we need to know where to start. We also hold the entire Spartan IV branch, commanded under Commander Sarah Palmer". Lasky informed.

"SPARTAN IV?" Cutter almost yelled. "You are telling me there are two more branches of spartans?"

"The spartan III's and IV's were different from spartan II's. They are volunteers for the program. The newest spartans haven't gone nearly as extensive augmentations than the older spartans but they are impressive soldiers nontheles".

"Hmmh, I would very much like to see these spartans in combat, captain". Cutter muttered.

"Im certain you will get your change. Meet up with my second in command and give him a full update on the situation on halo. I shouldn't keep Commander waiting any longer".

"hahaha, very well. I shoul inform you if the situation changes and after we have established a camp. Pleasure to meet you Captain". Cutter gave Lasky his hand and he shook it "The pleasure was mine Captain".

Lasky arrived at his office. He guessed that Palmer must already be inside since his door was unlocked. He stepped inside after the door hissed open and he saw Sarah sitting in his chair. "Trying to steal my ship Commander?" He teased and Palmer rolled her eyes "You know Tom that I coudn't keep this boat flying for more than a week". Tom laughed at this and took a seat opposite of her...on the wrong side of the table. "You should give yourself some credit. There isn't many people that can keep a entire division of augmented soldiers in line".

Sarah gave him a look "We both know that's different Tom. I can handle a simple soldier but an entire ship...Nah. Besides I pity you for the amount of paperwork you have to do".

"In my eyes, the paperworks worth it. Anyways you wanted to see me? I take it this isn't just social call to chatter about paperpushing".

"Well you take it right mister. We need to talk about the II's". With this Lasky was confused "What about them?" Palmer gave him one of her dump looks "You series? First they tell us Spartans don't die, suddenly all but one Master Chief disappear. Then they tell us 3 more spartan II's were found and the infamous blue team was reforged. Now we found three more very much alive spartan II's, that are happily dozing of in their own barracks". Lasky was confused "What's the point Sarah? seven spartans are better than four". He stated.

"Of course it is but I find it very interesting that UNSC has given almost no effort to search for this "missing" spartans. At this point most of them are probably dead but that doesn't mean that there aren't ones that are actually missing and ONI or UNSC hasn't done a damn about it".

"That might be because there are still people who highly oppose the spartan program and see the spartans as nothing more than brainless robots". Said a calm but irritated voice from the doorway of Lasky's office".

"The both turned to look who invaded their conversation uninvited and of course it coudn't be anyone else but Doctor Halsey herself. "I apologise for the intrusion captain but I need to go down there and you need to authorise that operation". She galnsed at Palmer who gave her a murderous gaze and turned back to Lasky "I would prefer as soon as possible captain Lasky. You also know I prefer my own spartans as security over everything else.

"I will see what I can do Doctor when I get to it". Lasky said clearly frustrated that their conversation was intruded.

"Good". Was all she said and turned away.

The pair waited till Halsey's footsteps faded away and Lasky continued "I am sure that UNSC will do everything they can to find them after the Guardian crisis has been dealth with". Lasky knew that Sarah idolised the spartans and did everything she could to stand up to their reputation. He also knew even tho he shoudn't that spartan Kelly was her role model. "Right now I need your head here in this situation. Ones this has been resolved we can talk about the spartans allright?

"Allright I should get going before Miss Ice Queen starts rampaging because of our "slow way of getting things done". Lasky smiled to the nickname and saluted her.


	22. Chapter22:Where it all ended,starts here

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 22: Where it all ended, starts here._

"Reclaimer I have a suggestion".

Chief wondered why the AI has been so quiet since their arrival at Ark. "Im listening". They were currently located in Infinity's hangar bay. Soon they would be disembarking to Ark. The only reason they were still onboard was that they were waiting for the ground grew to set up a forward base. The Captains of both UNSC vessels had a meeting where they discussed the ongoing and past events.

"I believe you were at Ark before. I must be completely honest with you…" He paused for a moment.

"So have I" Chief stopped hearing this. "What do you mean, so have you?" He asked confused. Bias was a forerunner monitor, certainly it woudn't be that weird for him to have been on Ark before?

"I believe you misunderstand. I wasn't here on my own accord...I was here onboard the Covenant holy city of High Charity". If Chief was surprised he didn't show it. Not that he could have told anyway, the Reclaimer was rather...stoic on the emotional side. "Why?" He asked.

"Pardon?" The AI asked confused. "Why were you onboard a Covenant vessel. Especially one of their most "holy" relics?" Chief clarified.

Medicant was quiet for a moment. "I...Was onbaord the forerunner keyship you used to escape High Charity. I was the reason you Anchilla had so much problems to keep the ship in bay. She fought quite impressively I must say. I understand why you are so...Keen of her". Bias finished.

"hmh, she always was a fighter". Chief muttered more to himself than Bias. "But you wanted to suggest something what was it?" He continued getting back in business. Enought time had been wasted already.

"Ah yes indeed. During the fall of the forerunners. I was broken into pieces and transported to multiple ships. All of these ships had the same goal of travelling to installation 00 or ark as you call it. However some of these ships never made it so I was never put back together. One of these lost pieces is this one. The Covenant found me and my keyship. They installed it to their "holy city" and used it as a power source".

"What does this have to do with getting out of here? We need to find something to open a portal back to earth or other method of transportation. The portal to Ark was shut down during Cortana's initial attack". Chief stated.

"Reclaimer, as you well know that same keyship was the one to travel trought the earth's portal and arrive here at Ark. I believe that two of my pieces have already been reunited. The second piece was residing inside the Ark's systems. Now if you truly want to find a way out of here...You must complete me. Im certain that if there is someone that knows a way to earth it's my remaining half". Bias finished waiting for Chief's answer.

"If we were to find the rest of you...Where would you be?" This was one of the big questions that bugged him and could determine the "worthiness" of his idea.

"Why inside the ark's main control room of course". He said it like it was nothing. Goddam self explanatory. "The same very place, where The Gravemind lived". Chief finished. "I believe we both know there is 0% possibility of anything surviving the firing of the halo array that was residing in orbit of the ark. The Gravemind is dead and im our ticket of this forsaken husk of a former forerunner glory".

"That's rather strong opinion about your creators". Chief observed and waited for the AI to clarify.

"I am well aware of this. Let's just say that I do not have the most brightest of memories from this place and I would very much like to leave as soon as possible". Chief almost chuckled to this "Well there's at least something we very much agree on".

"Then shall we. The faster we leave the better I feel". Bias was clearly unnerved, it almost felt like he knew something they didn't. Something game changing and something that even the greatest AI ever created by the forerunners feared.

"We have to inform Doctor Halsey and gather the Spartans. There is no time to waste. These Banished can be dealt with after I have rescued Cortana". With this Bias got curious "You seem very certain that you are capable of rescuing her? How do you know she isn't doing this by her own free will?"

The Chief never answered.

Allright I have to clarify some things. These has been kinda filler chapters but I felt like these things had to be adressed. The games never truly go deep to Medicant Biase's lore so I explained it here. There also never was a indication that even when his two parts connected that he was complete. I also felt like that I should say it out loud: The Chief is certain that he will rescue Cortana. However he isn't certain if he's rescuing her from herself or from something or someone else.


	23. Chapter 23: As We Fall From The Heavens

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 23: As We Fall From The Heavens_

"Blue Team you mission is simple. You will disembark from your pelican 200 meters from your intented target. Your priority is the remaining half of Forerunner AI designation Medicant Bias. You will re-emerge them and return to Infinity ASAP". Master Chief was quiet listening to Captain Lasky's short but full debrief of their upcoming mission. A mission that could deside were they going to be stuck on this husk of a spacestation forever or will they return home safely. Linda was croushed on the floor of the pelican quiet as usual. She was making last moment cheks on her gear making sure everything was indeed incheck. Fred was inside the cockpit doing god knows what. Kelly...Eh well she was Kelly. She had hard time standing still and was bouncing all over the place adrelaine already pumping in her veins.

Chief however had taken his old trustworthy spot standing at the back hatch of the pelican. The place where he stood when he, Cortana, Keys and Johnson first came to Ark. It was evening. Sun was setting and casting beatiful bright red reyes of light. If the situation woudn't have been so dire and he would actually have cared for such things Chief would have said the sight was mesmerising. He turned away from his thoughts and continued to listen to Lasky's debrief.

"We are nearly certain that no flood could have survived the firing of the halo array. However knowing the resiliance of the parasite I recommend extreme caution. Stay vigilant spartans and get us home". Lasky took a deep sight and finished "For what its worth...Good luck". With that the transmission was cut and a eery silence fell to replace the hum of the hologram and the soft speech of Captain Lasky.

"We are ten minutes out!" Came the voice of the pelicans pilot as the dropship started to shift towards their final goal. Chief could hear the click of Linda's sniper rifle as she loaded a fresh mag and secured it. Fred also came from the cockpit fully ready. Kelly stood next to him and looked at him with powerful eyes that radiated calmnes, friendlines and a emotion that could now be descriped as anything else than love. Love for a sibling and it was trought she, just like all spartans were his brother and sisters. She looked at him for a moment and said "Where-ever this takes us John, we are with you. I hope you know that?"

...With that the pelican they were riding on blew up. Its wing came tumbling off and it crashed to the wast mountains of the Ark. Only thing thing that Chief managed to see or hear where the hue of light green and the sound of an explosion. He only managed to clanse at his siblings that were trying to hold on for their live as the pelican fell and after that...It was complete darkness.

Chief opened his eyes. His head pounted hard and his legs hurt like hell. Everything hurt like hell, he realised. He looked around searching for Kelly, Linda or Fred but no one was in sight. Actually now that he thinked of it there was neither snow or mountains here. Everything felt so warm. Everything was warm. He was at a beach he realised. There were other people and children running, talking and laughing. Everything was so...Happy and calm. "Where am I?" John Thought as he gazed around. It was midday and the beach seemed to be at its busiest. John started slowly to walk he passed laughting couples and playing children. He even let a small smile spread on his lips as couple drunken old man started a small comical bar fight in the middle of the beach.

"Funny" He thought there was so much people around him...Yet he has never felt more alone. His was brought out of his thoughts as a semi large sized man bumped into him. The man turned around and had took a long look at John. "Watch where your going kid". The old man said as he took another long look and shrugged continuing to where-ever he was headed to.

Thought as the man moved John noticed there was someone behind him. A small figure, slender clearly feminine. As the man moved completely away John's jaw fell open. In front of him was standing a very human looking Cortana. She was just like her hologram. He didn't know much about women but even he could tell that Cortana was absurbly beautiful and his theory was supported by the amount of looks she was getting just by standing there. "Hello John". She said, reminding John of their not so fond reunion. "Its good to see you. Its been so long". She continued and smiled kindly at him. Thought now her voice was warm and her features kind. Everything was as it was always supposed to be. "Well say something, or Il start to feel really stupid". She said and blushed. Chief was trying to find words but none came, he was completely utterly speechless.

"How?" He finally managed to mumble out load, gazing Cortana up and down memorising every single detail about her, like she was about to dissapear. "What do you think John? Your pelican crashed. This is your conshiosnes, I am what you wanted me to be. Like we should always have been…" Cortana trailed off at the end and looked to John with sad eyes. "Im sorry John. Im so sorry for everything ive done. For the pain ive caused and the pain im going to cause… It isn't me you know that right?" She gave him a sad smile and looked down. "You haven't lost your hope? About me? About us?" She kept her gaze down and refused to meet his eyes. John was in a standard USNC PT outfit, his mjolnir gone. He had trouble finding words to confort her. He never really was good with words and showed his caring more by actions than talk.

"You know I haven't Cortana. You know me better than anyone and it might be serving against us for know but I promise you that I will not give up on you and never will". John was quiet for a moment to collect his thoughts and continued "I would travel across stars, destroy solar systems, blow up ships and planets for you...and so I will do if that's what it takes to bring you back. That is my promise to you and I nevr fail my promises". When John finished Cortana smiled. A real Genuine smile spred across her face adn she hugged him. Really actually hugged him. "If you want this to end like we both want you need to let go of your past and focus on the future. You coudn't have saved me no matter what you did but you can now. Focus on that".

Suddenly there was loud yells all around him. He turned around to look for the source of the voice but found nothing. Cortana smiled at him knowingly and said "They are calling for you. Its time that you finished this my knight in shining armor. Go now, Il be waiting".

With that Chief's eyes opened.

I just now realised how much music can affect your writing and I believe it had a giant effect on this chapter and it truly shows. Hopefully you enjoy my little comeback chapter after my unplanned leave.


	24. Chapter 24: Miscommunication

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 24: Miscommunication_

"Chief can you hear me?" The voice was somehow mumbled. Like it was somewhere far far away. Chief opened his eyes and everything was a blur, his head hurt like hell and he could barely hear. It was hard to tell but he guessed the voice was feminine.

"Chief talk to me". The voice came again, this time little bit clearer. His eyes started to adjust and the pain set in. "his conscious!" Kelly yelled as Chief tryed to move. "Woah, calm down hotshot, take it easy". Kelly pushed him down so she could explain whats going on. "John listen to me. You have few broken ribs and a light concussion. Your armor took most of the damage from the fall but without proper examination care I cannot tell the full extend of your injuries.

Chief finally managed to clear his head and looked now to Kelly who was crouched next to him. He blinked few more times and spoke "Any casualties?" His voice was rought. Rougher than normal and it hurt to speak. It was like his tongue was sandpaper. "Our pilots a goner but all spartans accounted for". kelly answered as she hauled Chief up on his feet supporting him lightly. "Oh snap out of it, you have taken worse falls than this". She smiled thought no one could see it inside her helmet. She wasn't there to see it personally but she had heard the stories about the Master Chief jumping from a forerunner keyship and crashing to the jungles of earth.

"Well it doesn't make this any more enjoyable" Chief shot back grunting from the pain. He could feel his suits automatic first aid systems applying biofoam to his wounds. The temporary help would have to be enought for now. "You got in contact with command?" Chief tested if he could walk on his own and after couple of steps deemed himself battleworthy. This did not mean it woudn't take any effort thought."Not yet, something is blocking all outgoing and incoming signals". Fred answered finally stepping in on the one sided conversation.

"How far to our target?" Chief tryed to grap his weapon from his back but noticed that nothing else than air came back. "Have to go with a pistol for now sir" Fred said watching Chief's struggle to find the weapon. "You lost it during the crash".

"There's a wrecked structure three-hundred meters south-east from here". Linda informed. "It seems to be a remains of a tower. Don't know its purpose". Chief walked next to Linda arriving at the edge of the giant hill they currently found themselves in. The sceenery was beautiful. If the situation woudn't have been so dire, he could have said stood there and enjoy the view for hours. Giant cliffs and massive ocean dominated their surroundings. There were large threes everywhere. It was almost like Reach. After a moment of nostalgia he allowed his gaze to settle on the structure.

For couple of seconds he just looked at it...Then something clicked. "I know what that tower was used for…" Chief trailed of at the end. He was recalling a bad memory, a very very bad memory. "It was a shield generator. One of three to be exact". The place where Johnson was captured, was left unsaid. "After I shut down the shield, The high Charity crashed to the Ark sending flood pods crashing trought the windows of the structure...From there it was downhill". Chief finished his voice quiet. It was clear he didn't want to talk about it.

"We should use the tower as a navigation tool. There is a path leading to the command center quite close to it". Medicant Bias said clearly eager to become full ones more.

"His right, I used that path before". Chief confirmed.

"Then that's our plan of action. We should finish this mission ASAP. The faster we get out of here the happier il be". Fred commented and started walking towards the remains of the ones proud forerunner structure. The other spartans slowly falling in formation behind him.

…

UNSC Infinity Command Deck/Bridge

…

"What do you mean you lost communication with their pelican?" Lasky asked almost yelling turning to look at the communication officer. He looked a bit surprised by the usually stoic captains outburst but after a moment of collecting himself answered "Sir, the communications with the pelicans pilot suddenly cut out. We do not have a definitive answer to why but best case scenario, they just ran to some interference". The officer took a deep breath and continued much slower this time "Worse case... they were shot down". This send a chill trought the captain's spine and after few moments his face turned thoughtful.

After few moments captain spoke "Roland, try to get our connection with the pelican back online". then he turned back to the officer "You, Anthony right?" He asked and the officer nodded clearly confused. "Tell me where did the communications exactly go down and be as exact as possible, there is a large change our spartans are in trouble and il be damned if they get themselves killed under my command".

The Infinity's bridge was a giant hide of controlled chaos. Officers running from here to there, issuing orders or getting new ones. Lasky's gaze however remained glued on the young communications officer now typing furiously, clearly nervous about the captain standing behind him. Lasky was turned towards the officer. His thoughts however were somewhere else. "What did we miss?", "What could have went so wrong?", "Where would they go?" and did they continue their mission.

"There! That's where I lost them!" He finally shouted. However his happiness seemed to fade when he saw Lasky's face. He was death series, almost like he was taking this extremely personally. Of course the officer couldn't have known how much Lasky idolised Chief and how much he respects him. Lasky believes spartans deserve something better and he will be damned if something were to happen to them. He believes that Master Chief deserves to be happy and if his family makes him happy then they should do everything possible to keep t hem safe even tho times are bad and it seems that everything is jsut going against them. Yes they had found answers to some of their questions and even a possible way to take down the guardians but how long can they run before Cortana catches up? How will all this end? Lasky could not know.

"Get me your best estimate where they could have crashed". Lasky stood there for a while waiting for a answer but when none came he frowned and walked to the other side of the console. The officer, Anthony looked up at him stupidly for a moment "But sir, we do not know if they even have crashed. There is yet any solid evidence to come u...". He was about to continue his argument but Lasky's uncharastically cold stare silenced him. Anthony gulped and said "Yes, sir". Starting his search.

With that Lasky turned to Infinity's bridges main holodesk where Roland was standing "Roland get me Palmer and the Red Team and DO IT NOW!" Roland could see Lasky was tense but made no comment of it. High stress situations were normal in the bridge of USNC's largest ship. "Right away sir". He answered and dissapeared.

…..

Next update tomorrow. I feel like this was left kinda short and didn't get us anywhere… Yet :D :D :D :DDDDDDDDDDD.


	25. Chapter 25: First contact

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 25: First contact_

"You were looking for me captain". Palmer stated officially as she entered the bridge. Her gaze turned worried as she saw how tense the atmosphere was. "Everything allright?" Lasky looked old. The kind of oldness only the command of the largest ship in the UNSC could bring.

"We lost contact with blue team". Palmer frowned hearing this. "We have a rought estimate where they crashed and I need you to send a fire team to salvage whatever is left out of this shitstorm".

"If they even crashed". Muttered Anthony The Comm Officer.

"They alive?" She asked and all Tom could give her was a shake of head. "We don't know. We have been unable to establish contact with them, so we should prepare for the worse I guess". The last part nothing more than a under the breath mutter. He took a deep breath and continued "We believe they are crashed here". Pointing a finger to a spot on the holomap currently on display in front of them. "It isn't far from their original target but their seems to be a mountain blocking the most direct path to the command center". Captain paused for a minute a slight frown on his face that Palmer had learn to recognize as "Tom solving a puzzle" Face. If I was them I would pass trought this canyon". Again he pointed at the map, this time a long almost tunnel like canyon that cut trought the mountains.

"I don't know that canyon almost screams for ambush Tom". Sarah pointed out sceptical of the "path" Tom had drawn for them.

"Yeah it does but they don't have much options. Changes are that they are injured or witch would make passing over the mountain even more unlikely. Sarah walked next to him and took a look at the glowing holomap. "What about if they take shelter here". She said pointing at a old tower of some sorts.

"I doubt it. The spartans have a mission to complete and if I have learn to know them at all during our time together, id say they are going to use the cloak of darkness to their advantage as they move towards the command center".

"Allright il take a team and hopefully fix this shitstorm". Said Palmer after she gave the orange map one last glance and turned to leave. suddenly as she was about to walk out from the bridge she heard Tom's voice behind her "Bring them home save, commander". She had turned her head and was looking Tom over her shoulder.

"You know I will". Was all she said as she walked out of the Bridge with a purpose.

"So Chief, you wanna enlighten us on your masterplan to get your girlfriend back?" Asked Kelly her face appearing at the top right of his visor. Chief was heading the group as they walked in pairs towards the old ancient snowy canyon. Kelly was right behind him and noticed how he stiffened and walked just a tiny bit faster after she called Cortana by her new nickname.

"Im still working on that part Kelly". Saying her name a bit louder than he needed to. To this Kelly smirked. "You know we would like to get the mission dossier a before we go headputting to darkness and probably dying.

"Well you will be first to know when I figure something out". He shot back getting a slightly amused look from her. He would never say it out loud but it was immensely comforting to have his siblings on this pretty much insane journey with no knowledge if they would survive. He despised putting them in danger but also knew if anyone could take care of themselves...It was the spartans and damn he would rib the universe apart to get answers to how to get her back.

"How much further till the canyon?" Linda asked.

"Fred popped up at the corner of her screen and looked amused "Getting soft there Petty Officer?" Linda shot him a dirty look "Yeah and your getting old silverhear". Kelly's mouth hung open. "Did she just make a joke?" She asked.

"Down!" John said as they came to the entrance of the canyon. The sguad reacted instantly and disappeared to the environment almost impossible to see even tho their bulky and colorful armor.

"Two wraiths guarded by two full squads of elites and unggoy". Fred informed after scanning the group".

"Aand brutes". finished Kelly

"Those brutes could be a problem, we have to deal with them first. I definitely do not wan't to have a berserk brute messing up our battle plan". Told Chief as he gazed the middle sized Banished group.

"Why would they be guarding entrance to a empty canyon?" Asked Fred.

"Don't know don't care they are in our way and we need to get to that control center. Chief what's the plan?" Said Linda clearly irritated with all the talking. She tolerated it a bit more among the spartans but enought was enought.

"I agree with Linda, we have wasted enought time already. Fred take the remaining spartan laser and destroy the first tank on my mark. Linda 50-meters above us is a small clearing can you see it?" Linda gave him a affirmative and John continued " Go their focus on the brutes. You have the only weapon powerful enought to deal with them fast and cleanly. Kelly, take my grenades and destroy the second tank on my mark. Il deal with the elites. Move!"

3 minutes and 20 seconds later every single spartans was in position and Chief gave the thumbs up.

0 seconds: Red laser flashed trought the air and the first wrath exploded. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as Chief hauled himself from his hiding spot.

5 seconds: Kelly jumped to the back of the second wraith and stuffed the grenade belt inside it. Making the tank explode and taking some of the unggoy's with it. Linda also fired her first shot taking down two of the four man brute squad.

10 seconds: Chief gunned down the first elite, jumping over its sword swing. After landing he grapped the second elites arm and twisted it at a unnatural angle. The elite howled in pain and Chief took its energy sword and stabbed it trought the third elites chest. The final elite of the squad was frozen, even after all the stories he had hard time believing what he saw. All of he's brother in arms killed with such eas...such grace, it was inhuman. After that he gave a battlecry and charged…Only to be put down by the very same energy sword.

15 seconds: Fred sweeped in and naded most of the unggoy's, shooting the ones that remained. Linda show a second shot, killing the two remaining brutes.

20 seconds: everything was silent.


	26. Chapter 26: Road To Reunion

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 26: Road To Reunion_

Allright so ive been gone for a long time (By my standards I mean) and I just want to explain what happened.

Basically my computer's power supply melted. It started as a strange noise and evolved to the point where my computer just plain shutdown from the smallest of stress. This woudn't have been a problem cause I have a laptop for situations like this...Except my laptop's wireless and wired connections all stopped working and I didn't have even the smallest of ideas what was wrong. So I had to send both my PC and my laptop to maintenance and it took almost a full week to get them back. During this time I was unable to continue writing. Now Im back and hopefully we can get this started again. ;D

anyways enought of my rambling, into the fiction:

"Is it just me or did these banished go down a little bit too easily?" Asked Fred as they continued forward. They looted the bodies of the ex-covenant and continued onwards. The canyon wasn't deep but it was wide and served as the perfect place for the Banised to ambush them. They coudn't stop even if they wanted to.

After a brief moment of silence Kelly answered "Yeah, their style was almost...Sloppy". Chief kept quiet he's thoughts were wandering somewhere else or in someone. He has been distracted for a long time but no one voiced there concerns about the subject so he didn't quite care enought to fix it.

"I agree. Stacking like that is new level of stupid even for grunts and the elites were almost paralised when they saw Chief hack one of them to pieces". Linda continued.

"Well there wasn't many that survived an encounter with a spartans, that's how the "Demon" legend was born. If these Banished truly are deflectors of the Covenant, they might not even have fought in the war". Fred finished.

"Even if they haven't seen real combat they still are pirates and raiders, this means they are dangerous and we should not underestimate them". Chief finally cut in and silence fell upon the group. It was turning night and this gave the spartans the cover of dark. However the Banished also enjoyed the same advantage. They could see the tower far in the distance. There was large about 60 meter drop right next to them and the spartans were forced to use night vision.

"How are our communications Fred?" Chief asked. Getting in contact with the Infinity could help their mission significantly. Chief's wounds patchwork was also rushed as they coudn't stay still for long. Kelly was good but even she had her limits with limited recourses and time.

"Still down Chief. Until we find whatever is srcambling our signal there isn't much I can do, other than try to contact them every few minutes". Informed Fred jumping over a large boulder that was blocking their path. The spartans had had couple of run ins after their first contact at the beginning of the vast canyon. Nothing major thought and nothing the spartans coudn't handle.

"I believe I can try to assist you in this matter reclaimer". Medicant Bias cut in. He had been uncharastically quiet during their short journey and Chief had wondered why. Usually the AI was quite chatty… "Just like Cortana was…" He banished the thought now was not the time or the place. It was not yet time to mourn something that wasn't necessarily lost.

"How would you do that?" Fred asked grunting as he jumped down from a ledge about two meters in hight. The terrain was not very cooperative and slowed their brogress significantly. Even the Mjolnir was no match for strong wind and rought terrain.

"I believe I can trace the scrambler signal back to its original source. This would enable you to destroy it and re-establish connection with your ship". It was a good plan but it would also slow their progress down even further.

"What would you need us to do? How are you going to trace it? We don't have a source where to start tracking." Fred continued.

"But Reclaimer we _do_ have a source. _You_ are the source. I can use your suits as a tracker but…" Bias trailed off letting the spartans brainstorm the rest. It was a good plan but there was one small hook…

"Using our suits as trackers will enable the Banished to see where we are. Well light up like a christmas tree". Fred finished. Every plan had its risks but this one just begged a shitstorm to get loose. "I don't know its insanely risky. What do you say Chief?" Fred asked turning to his superior for guidance.

"It's a series gample, do you have even the smallest of ideas where the scrambler might be?" He asked trying trying to get a better idea of what he was about to agree to.

"I can only speculate but I believe for the scrambler to work at max efficiency it needs to be located somewhere hight. Higher than its surroundings. Perhaps one of the old towers we saw or another large object or structure nearby?" It was mere speculation at this point without tracking the signal it was all a game of dice.

"The command centre was a large tower located in the middle of the ark. It would be a perfect spot to place the scrambler". Chief said.

"It is your decision reclaimer I will do as you see fit". Bias finished giving Chief the power to decide to take witch one of the choises was the lesser evil.

Chief thought about it for a moment. If he decided to trace the signal they would be in constant firefight from this point on, but they would find the scrambler for certain. In other hand if he decided to continue on and head to the tower in assumption that the scrambler would be there, there would be no backup and if the device wasn't located in the control center...Well let's just say they would have a hard time getting out.

With this he made a decision. One that would decide the faith of his entire team and perhaps the future of the universe.


	27. Chapter 27: Tear Drop

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 27: Tear Drop_

"We are not going after the scrambler". It made sense. Of course it did, but one still had to think what if? You know that feeling when you are confident enought in your leader not to question his decisions but still wander what could have happened if things were done differently? If you would have done something differently? Perhaps humans would bear the mantle now, or perhaps the Banished would have crushed them allready. These were the things running trought blue teams mind as they mechanically pushed trought the opposing Banished forces. Halos command tower as their destination.

After Chief's decision they had continued moving forward and trought be told, they haven't met even half of the resistance they expected to meet. Of course they didn't complain but something seemed off. Everything felt like another test back in the days of their training. Forces with lethal firearms without the intention of killing.

It was clear that banished soldiers were eather Covenant dropouts or some type of mercenaries. Some of them were more sloppy and some were as well or even better trained than the Covenant elites. Yet they all shared a similar faith. They all died by the hands of blue team.

"Grenade! Get down!" Fred yelled as a Banished elite threw a plasma grenade to their current hiding spot. Everyone scrambled but only Kelly was fast enought to dodge the entire explosion of the grenade. Fred took a minor hit, his armor melting from places but nothing major. Chief was standing in front of Linda so she didn't really feel the grenades effects. Chief lost his shields. "We need to move!" Kelly yelled and chief agreed with his second in command.

"Move push to the tower, regroup at the _front_ gate and _don't_ get killed one me!" Chief's commands were met with cries of yes sir and yes Chief. It was a sloppy plan but this had to be the most enemies they had faced on their way here and they were proving to be quite the challenge.

Chief was the second last to stand up. Linda taking up the rear as Nornfang woudn't be that useful in close range. Kelly warned them about a hunter pair coming towards them and Chief ducked just in time to see a flash of green flying over his head barely missing Linda. She shot him a glare trought their helmet cameras and continued running.

Their team had no heavy weapons since their pelican came crashing down so they had to deal with the armored beasts creatively. How?...Well he had to be honest, he didn't have a smallest idea on this one. Their weapons woudn't pierce the not so gentle giants armor and trying to get to their weak spots was extremely dangerous. Chief heard steps behind them and turned around to see a pair of elites decloaking. He shot the other elite but the other was faster and tryed to push his sword trought Chief's chest. He reacted purely by instincts and pushed his hand between the blade and too a grip from its hilt. The elite looked at him eyes wide, only to see the cold hard visor of chief's helmet. After a second the elites head exploded and Linda ran next to him.

"Thatl be twice saviour of the galaxy". She remarked. After that she turned and fired a round only to duck again and start speaking "Their armor is way too thick for our weapons to pierce it. You know just as well as I do we have to do something risky. I say lets bring the entire mountain on them.

Chief's eyes widened and he looked at her if she were crazy. "If we cause an avalanche, well get buried too Linda". She had no answer to that but Kelly cut in, she and Fred had listened the entire conversation. "Chief there is no other way! There are too many Banished here to push trought without help! Damn". They heard her mutter as a plasma grenade almost hit her. "Im the fastest so I will start the reaction and you will make a run for it. Go straight inside and do not look back!" Chief knew this was the only way. They were outnumbered 1 to 8 currently and spartans have survived worse but they were running out weapons and ammo. He didn't like it but coudn't find any valid counter argument and gave a affirmative.

He could only watch as Kelly took of to a full sprint towards one of the more secluded hunters, dodging their plasma shots along the way. The hunter tried to swing its shield but she jumped planting a foot on the corner of the shield and jumped grabbing the hunter's weapon hand and just as it was about to fire turned it towards the peak of the mountain. This was the moment they all started running. The plasma shot hit the sight of the mountain and a thunderous sound could be heard and then...A giant crack.

After that it was running. Running for your live, he could see red in his vision and his legs hurt, he had never ran this fast but the sound of the avalanche kept him and the rest of the blue team extremely motivated to keep running. He could see the giant doors they were opened and a squad of 5 elites walked trought them to stop the spartans. After the elites had passed the gates started closing.

Chief pushed himself even harder, crashing to one of the elites sending the bigger creature flying. He activated the looted energy sword and ducked another elites swing. He pushed his sword in the elites stomach and kept running towards the gates, he was first to pass trought and turned around to see if the rest of his team had arrived.

Fred was next to come and he collapsed against the nearest wall. Only a moment later Linda came and crouched down to take a breath. The rolling wall of snow could now be heard so loud that Chief was sure it would hurt his ears if not for the mjolnir armor.

The doors were closing fast and Kelly woudn't come soon she would be buried under the tidal wave.

Chief looked around he could see that Fred was also looking at the door and even Linda's shoulders were tense.

The door was about to close it barely had a houl size of a man.

Just before the doors closed completely a blue blur jumped trought it crashing to the ground in a odd angle.


	28. Chapter 28: For A Single Moment Of Piece

Purpose Of Existence Chapter 28: For A Single Moment Of Peace…

"Dear God" Was the only thing anyone heard when fire team osiris's pelican approached the Arks command center.

The destruction...It was unbelievable. Destroyed wraiths, dead elites, grunts, jackals, brutes and even multiple hunters. Commander Sarah Palmer joined osiris in this mission. She knew how important the spartan two's were for Tom and decided that it was for the best.

"I am more than avere of the deeds the spartan two's have done but _this_...this is…" Buck trailed off as he inspected the carnage. Most of the facility itself was buried under a deep layer of snow, barely recognizable. Buck was the most veteran of the group and he had seen some things during the war. Yes he had seen this kind of destruction before but… There was a small army down there, possibly more buried under the snow and they were against four spartans…

Even Palmer was quiet and felt a slight shiver going down her spine thinking about what could have happened. Her face showed nothing of her inner turmoil. She was still in command and had to keep her emotion in check, even if there was a small dose of...Fear? Going trought her. Yeah that was the only way describe it.

"Well one of these guys did save the galaxy two times, destroyed a halo, the ark and the flood. I'd say this could be kinda expected". Tanaka observed. The pelican landed about 400-meters from their target and the group slowly started making their way towards it, dodging body's, parts of vehicles and weak spots in the deep snow.

"We have to keep moving, there's no guarantee about what the spartans are up to". Locke stated talking for the first time during their little trip trought what seems to be the embodiment of hell. He was the only one who was provided with all the spartans details. He knew almost everything about them, from their weaknesses to their strengths. Courtesy of ONI of course. He knew that every single one of those four spartans were capable of killing anyone in their group, without leaving a trail, evidence or a witness to prove their guilt. He knew the exact details of their augmentations, painful, inhumane and cold. Locke even felt a slight pity towards the super soldiers but ONI always came first, no matter the cost.

"I hope I do not have to remind you _Spartan Locke,_ that this is a rescue mission and I expect you to act like it". Palmer cut in. She never was a fun of Locke. Palmer always respected his skill in combat and as a infiltrator but his personality was a textbook ONI agent and it furiated her to a no end.

"Of course not, Ma'am" He replied looking towards the giant tower, half buried under layers of snow.

Suddenly they heard Vale yell from a distance "We have a live one here!" Everyone looked at each other and started running towards the voice. When they arrived everyone saw Vale standing over a bloodied elite who was sitting against remains of a destroyed wrath. It was clear the elite didn't fear them, it had accepted its faith long ago.

"What do we have here?" Buck asked crouching down in front of the elite. He had a long at the elite and noticed it was fairly young, probably had wasn't part of the war. After a moment Buck asked "What now, the great journey didn't start yet? Damn shame…Oh well since you're here, mind telling us what the hell happened?" The elite looked at him and mumbled something in sangheili. Vale bursted out laughing. Buck turned and glared at her. "What did the split lip say?" He asked his voice low.

Vale finally got herself under control and explained "Something that should not be translated". Buck glared at her again "Well miss be so good and ask him nicely to tell us _.hell_ happened here?

"Well since you asked so nicely". she pouted and said something to the elite in sanghelios. The elite said something back and now it was her turn to glare at it. After a moment she hung her shoulders and said "We won't be getting anything out of this one. Says he will be left behind from the great journey if he talks to humans".

"We have wasted enough time leave it be". Said Palmer as she continued walking towards their destination. The rest of the group followed leaving the elite there.

"Ma'am even if we make it to the HCS (Short for Halo Command Center), how are we going to get in? There's still a giant pile of snow blocking the main gate". Tanaka asked.

"The initial scan made by The Infinity showed "other entrances" to the center itself. One of them was the giant glass window Commander Miranda Keyes crashed through with her pelican". Yes none of the members of fire team osiris nor Commander Palmer was there but everyone in the UNSC had heard the stories of the commanders brave last act and it did not go unnoticed. Theres also a entrance at the side of the cliff so we have to grapple down. If, of course you don't want to try your luck with the jetpacks.

"Yeah, uh, my luck isn't quite as well known as the Master Chief's so I think I'll pass". Buck said.

When they finally arrived at edge of the mountain, Locke pointed his fingers downwards "There". Palmer turned to look at small hole at the side of the mountain.

"Alright we don't have all day. Move!" The spartans attached their hooks to a giant rock near the ledge and after making sure their contraption would hold, started moving downwards.

The climb down was uneventful, if you don't count Buck making comments of Vale's ass and Vale reminding that he had a very _very_ angry wife waiting for him at home if _somebody_ happened to "leak" some information about his onmission antics.

The team of five unhooked themselves and after hacking trought the outer door started moving trought the dimly lit facility. Everything was fairly dark and if they wanted to see enemies hiding in corners, they would have to use night vision. Luckily everyone believed that at this point Master Chief and the blue team should have cleared the corridors by now.

"Is it just me or is it kinda creepily quiet? I mean there have been a few bodies but still jeez is the hole place dead?" Buck asked and Palmer had to admit, it was strangely quiet. No stranglers or patrols the spartans might have missed.

"It is strange". Locke commented. "No sounds of gunfire and only slight signs of fighting, at least compared to the bodycount outside".

"Perhaps The Banished already spent most of their resources trying to hold off the spartans?" Vale suggested. They came up to another door and Locke crouched down starting to hack the door.

"Possibly but I do not believe even the The Banished would be that stupid. Their supposed leader has shown great skill on battlefield and out of it. He leads his troops skill and they respect him. They are even ready to die if need to. There has to be something else going on". He stated and stood up, finished with the hack.

As the door started to open Tanaka said "I agree with Locke, there must be something goi…".

She trailed of as they saw The Master Chief hand wrestling with Atriox on a elevated platform. The rest of the blue team were fighting a insane amount of Banished forces. They were pinned down and needed help.

"Oh boy" Buck muttered as he went for his weapon.

So you might have been wandering, Dude...Where the hell have you been? Eh yeah well School is systematically and slowly trying to murder me. I was going to upload yesterday but the chapter would have been way too short and you wouldn't have enjoyed it. So hopefully no more interruptions.


	29. Chapter 29: Two Souls For A Single Goal

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 29: Two Souls For A Single Goal_

Before we get to the actual chapter itself...I guess I should apologise xD. I might have gotten a little bit eh how do I put it "addicted" to assassin's creed franchise and I finished Black Flag and let's just say it has been a very emotional journey for me. It wasn't the first time that I have played the game but damn...I had forgotten how emotional the game was. If you are a fan of pirate games go play it.

Now onwards to the fic:

Blue team survived. How? Interesting question and Chief had thought about it for many times. Every single one of them had suffered injuries that should have killed them. Every one of them had suffered injuries that should have put them out of commission for life...Yet here they are walking trought the dark corridors of Halo's command center, heading towards the top of the central tower elevator. Kelly had suffered minor injuries and plasma burns, she was slightly limbing. A normal man would not have noticed it but he had served with her long enough to realize it.

Apart from minor grunt/elite patrols they had had from little to no resistance at all and this put the Chief on edge. Elites were almost mad to the point of suicidal because of their honor. They did not play hide and seek...Yet there was none in sight.

There were ancient monitors positioned on the walls around them, giving the room a dim blue hue. They could see ancient monitors floating passively trought their traveling tubes. They didn't care about them whatsoever.

"The lift is deactivated Chief". Linda announced as she crouched down before the elevator's control panel. "You should use this moment, this might take a while". She announces, never turning to address them. Mjolnir had a state of the art communication system and all four of them were connected 100% of the time.

It was moments like these John had learn to hate. Moments where his "skills" weren't needed or when there was nothing to talk about. Not that he talked much but it kept his mind of...thinks. He knew his effectiveness as a soldier had suffered after Cortana's death but he had to admit he was at a point that he didn't much care. At first he didn't even understand that he was even mourning and tried to bury the frustrating emotion away by taking more and more missions. He didn't care that most of them were way below his skill as long as he had something to occupy his mind. His eyes had been opened when Linda got her self critically wounded at Turul. This made him realize that he could never forget Cortana, much less let go...But he had to keep focus not for UNSC but his family. Those few he had left were everything to him and he would gladly die for any of them.

Chief was brought out of his thoughts as he heard a gunshot and someone yelling "Banished!" For a moment he was actually startled. Is that even possible, was the only thing he managed to think before he was forced to dodge a hunter cannon shot. They had no cover so they were forced to retreat towards the elevator and pray to god that those hunters couldn't aim.

Perhaps John's luck still held in some extend as just as they were about to run out of places to retreat Linda yelled "Operational" and "Get in. NOW!" With that the spartans took a sprint. The elevator started to rise and they jumped just in time to get onboard. Chief was the last and grabbed the edge of the elevator, hanging from its side. John looked down and saw only darkness. Not a place you should fall down to. He heard footsteps and looked back up. Fred walked to him and hauled him aboard.

"Those hunters would have been an easy target if we weren't forced to burn every heavy weapon we had earlier". Chief had to agree with that, they were bulky and had strong weapons yes...but they were also slow and sometimes inaccurate.

"Reclaimer". Bias spoke up, getting his attention. He still kept fairly quiet and he didn't like it. This was was usually very talkative just like Cortana was. Sharing every single damn thing he saw or babbling about his achievements in research.

"We are nearing my remaining half, I can feel it". He kept silent for a moment and kept speaking. He was distracted, that much was clear from his voice. "Im...drawn towards it, it's calling for me".

"Now is not the time to get distracted" Chief reminded him. The irony was not lost on John but he kept quiet about it. The elevator came to a stop and a long pathway was set in front of them. Blue team wasted no time starting to walk towards the end of the tunnel where Chief knew the control center was located. There mission had a benefit for everyone if it were to succeed. Bias would be whole again and would arguably be the most powerful AI in the entire galaxy and the UNSC would liberate the HCS from banished control. The stakes were not lost on them. If they were to fail, their universe would be slaved or burned to the ground and they would be stuck here probably forever.

The long walk was quiet, as were everything. The only sound was their footsteps. The cold "Glang" of a armored boot times four. They arrived at the energy bridge connecting the command centre and the rest of the facility. John was having hard time keeping his head together. As he surveyed their surroundings he could see the events of the past flickering like images in front of him. The death of Truth, beaten up Johnson being held by a brute chieftain…

and Miranda Keyes. Her body lying in Johnson's arms, cold and lifeless. It hurt more than it should and Bias sensed this. "Your fellow soldiers died for a cause greater than any of us. You should remember their deaths not as one of waste but as a act of heroecy and ultimate sacrifice". He was silent for a moment carefully choosing his words. "You should never forget them, but don't let their deaths pull you to the oblivion. Remember as the persons they were and relish on those memories".

"Even the hardest of soldiers will mourn and feel loss someday. They will feel broken and hopeless, but only the strongest survive and thrive by their memory. Never forget that Master Chief". It was the first time Bias had used his name and somehow...Even tho he didn't say it out loud his words helped him more than the AI could ever understand.

The bridge flickered on and the spartans crossed it. "Put me inside that console reclaimer". Bias instructed, setting a waypoint.

It was at the exact moment that Chief inserted his chip, Atriox's voice could be heard from the other side of the bridge.

"Always so predictable". He laughed a deep menacing laugh and continued "The first time I fought a "demon"...Yes that's what they call you. I believed I would be facing the most difficult opponent of my life. However it turned out you are nothing more than larger, bulkier humans with armor. Breakable and killable all the same".

He brought his giant hammer up and pointed it at them "Now give me that AI!".

And with that, all hell broke lose.

Over 30000 words, now that's a milestone I like :D.


	30. Chapter 30: Temper Management

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 30: Temper Management_

It was madness. Yes that was the only real way to describe it. Yet among the chaos there was order. The movement of the legendary spartan II-s was truly something. Like a single soul was directing them all, giving them directions, telling them where to shoot, when to duck or when to help a comrade. Not a single shot was wasted and every grenade took at least four Banished down to meet their maker.

It was so very confusing. Even Palmer seemed to be frozen staring at the chaos unfolding in front of them.

Atriox swinged his hammer, trying to decapitate Chief where he stood... Barely missing him by inch, growling in frustration his swings turned wilder and wilder with every passing moment. Palmer finally snapped out of her trance as a plasma shot landed next to her.

"Osiris, help blue team!" She yelled, ducking another shot coming straight for her. She pulled her twin magnums out of their holsters, starting to ran directly into the chaos. Palmer killed the first unfortunate Jackal by hitting it with her magnum, pulling the bird like creature to her chest as two grunts overheated their plasma pistols firing at the dead body. She threw the body away firing two shots, killing both grunts... Only to be tackled down by a brute.

"Oh, get the fuck off me you fucking ugly monkey" She yelled kicking the ape like creature to its groin, sending it flying. She quickly got up and shot the brute emptying almost all of her ammo before it decided to die off. "Fucking hate brutes, fucking fucking fuck". She muttered and kept clearing her way towards the rest of the spartans, still pinned down in the middle of the command center.

"Incoming!" she heard someone yell and franticly started to look for the source of the threat...seeing a mad brute take a fuel rod cannon and starting to fire it without aiming, hitting both spartans and banished...Mostly Banished. Realising his cannon was empty the brute roared and charged towards Osiris like a madman, clearly going in a frenzy. Her team however saw this and killed the brute before it managed to get too close.

The problem was they weren't making much progress and what little they actually managed to gain, was far too slow. At this pace, blue team would be overwhelmed before they managed to get even halfway to their objective. She needed to think of something and she needed to find a solution fast.

The solution however seemed to introduce itself as dozen of sentinels flew into the room, now clearly in intention to attack something. She stiffened and aimed towards one of the flying buggers, only to relax when they started killing Banished forces.

Osiris started moving towards blue team who now with the help of the sentinels were keeping the Banished onslaught at bay. Not without difficulty but holding out nonetheless.

As Osiris arrived and they finally started pushing their enemy back, Kelly yelled to Sarah trought her helmet speakers "Go help Chief, we can deal with this". Her tone was cold and professional...Yet if you listened carefully, you could hear a small bt of approval and even acceptance. It was no secret at this point. Commander Sarah Palmer is and has always been seeking acceptance from the originals the "real" spartans. Being their superior never really felt quite right. Taking in consideration that they were the legends, not the fours.

She took of in a sprint jumping and dodging dead bodies to save time. She could see them still going at it.

"You will die spartan, this will be your grave...as it should have been so many years ago". Atriox taunted and it seemed he had hit home as Chief stiffened for a second, gaining his composure just in time to dodge a devastating swing from the Brute. He answered the swing by charging against him sending them both flying, landing beneath the control platform. They slowly rose to their feet. Both Atriox and The Chief were panting at this point. Even tho deadly it was still thrilling to fight against a opponent who could match the strength and speed of a spartan.

This Atriox was clearly different from the rest of the brutes. He was smart and cunning. He didn't run head first into battle like his brothers, instead he analyzed and planned, even used fear tactics if necessary to maximise his change of victory. He had clearly learned from the mistakes of the Covenant and had potential to be much more dangerous than any of the prophets.

This is why Chief needed to end this here and now. Atriox could not be allowed to escape.

First he needed to get rid of the hammer. It was a advantage that made his victory almost impossible and thus had to removed. Dodging another blow he searched for something to use as a weapon. Seeing a energy sword still stuck in the hand of a dead elite, he made a dive for it. Atriox pulled his hammer over his head, bringing it down where he just stood and cracked the metallic floor. The force of the hit must have been insane.

Chief took the energy sword mid combat roll and activated it, just barely catshing the electrified hammer from smashing him to pieces. Their weapons locked and both gazed their opponent down. Chief had his helmet on but he could still feel Atriox's eyes bore to his very soul and he returned his gaze. He could see the raw, untamed power flowing trought his opponent's body and he could see the amount of hate his eyes carried. What had the humans done to him, to cause such hate? Chief's energy sword gave his faceplate a blue hue and Atriox's red hammer gave him a menacing dark angry red look.

As their weapons parted Chief took a step back, his gaze never leaving Atriox. The hammer wielding brute charged, swinging his hammer sideways, Chief ducked under it bringing his energy sword upwards, the brute sidestepped it and kicked Chief backwards. He charged again spinning his hammer around his body, leaving Chief no other choice but to jump over the hammer and tackle brute down.

Just one successful swing and it would be over, as they separated from the tackle Chief swinged his sword missing the first strike but recovering and taking the brute by surprise, pushing his blade directly towards his heart…

That's why Chief was taken completely by surprise as Atriox grabbed the handle of his energy sword, stopping the stapping motion. He grinned menacingly and backhanded the Chief sending him flying backwards again. He landed roughly, vision foggy and back hurting like hell.

All he could see was Atriox's form materialising in his view ready to deliver the killing blow with his own sword.

However as the brute was bringing his sword down, three shots went trought his shoulder. making him stagger and roar in pain. Atriox quickly turned around to see Palmer charging at him. If his shoulder would not have been injured, he most certainly could have killed her. But that wasn't the case and Palmer jumped on him, bringing her combat knife to his shoulder. Atriox roared again and threw her off. taking off in a run towards the giant window looming over the entire Control Center. Palmer ran after him but was too late and saw the brute jumping trought it. Falling down to the dark abyss.

Palmer came to a halt gazing down from the brute sized hole. Only to see a red phantom rise from the depths of the canyon, turning its turrets towards her.

"Shit" She muttered, eyes wide...and then she was off, running towards the nearest wall and ducking behind it, just barely dodging the phantoms plasma shots.

"This isn't over spartan". Atriox yelled, the dropships hatch closing as it took off.

Palmer sat there, back against the wall and she saw spartans Buck running towards her. he came to a halt dropping to a croush taking off his helmet...Only to reveal that infuriating smug grin of his. "Got your ass handled back there Commander, you all right?" Face still full of that damn smug but his voice gave away his concern and Palmer just puffed saying that she'll live.

After gathering her thoughts and letting her pulse calm down, she got up and walked to the Chief. He was still laying down on the floor, chest rising and falling evenly, he was clearly completely in his own world and she had to tap his faceplate to bring him back to the land of the living.

"So big guy, still breathing in there?" She asked.

At first Chief only turned his head and she was certain the he wouldn't actually answer her. Then he suddenly said "For now". After that he got up and walked to his siblings leaving commander palmer croushing startled.

Palmer was brought of her haze by giggling and laughing. Turning around she saw the entire fireteam Osiris laughing at her expense, even Locke smirked under his visor and she had to admit the laugh was pretty infectious.


	31. Chapter 31: Medicant Bias

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 31: Medicant Bias_

Not dead...still alive, trust me :D. So Here I find myself again explaining what the ever flying fuck i've been doing these past weeks. So this episode was supposed to be released few days after the original but before I managed to get started, I noticed awakening the nightmare was released and I needed to know what content it had to continue writing this. After watching full gameplay walkthrough of the DLC I was ready to continue...If my computer's CPU wouldn't have started to overheat and this caused total system shutdowns. 80 celsius in IDLE should not be a thing even in AMD CPU's and sure as hell it wasn't. Basically a windows 10 update had failed and my computer kept restarting it. This took over 40% of my system power and fucked up my liquid cooler settings. It took me a few days to get this fixed but after that school and floorball have been killing me. Soooo now that I have begged for your forgiveness, will ya forgive me? :D. Anywho back to the story shall we?

"Hate to interrupt your laughter but we still have a job to do" Fred nearly yelled over the hysterical near death laughter. Amused, yet almost scared for the spartans sanity. If spartan II's had confirmed sociopathic tendencies we...Spartan IV's were mostly ex ODST.

"Ah ,What?" Palmer starred fred blankly, clearly out of it. Fred was about to ask if she was quite alright but Palmer seemed to snap out of it, eyes returning to their old determined and cold look. The eyes of a leader.

"Right, Osiris! Secure the tower and get us a pelican". Nothing seemed to happen for a moment so Palmer continued a bit more coldly "Do I need to repeat myself?"

That seemed to do the job as entire Osiris was now moving like ants in a hive. Palmer allowed herself a small smile and turned back to Fred "I take it your mission isn't quite over yet?"

Fred eyed her for a moment before replying "Mendicant Bias is currently in the towers central console, we are waiting for him to report back". Palmer looked up the the master console , seeing Master Chief standing in perfect parade rest next to it. Gazing through the giant used to be window.

Like reading her thoughts Fred answered "It's his way of dealing with near death experiences, to this day I don't know what goes inside that thick head of his but you can be sure of this, he won't make the same mistake twice".

Palmer turned back to Fred "And what mistake lieutenant, might that be?" Again Fred eyed her through his visor, He clearly was man who didn't waste words Palmer observed. Even after serving with the spartan blue team for a while now, on a personal level she knew very little about them. Don't think anyone knows much about them, Palmer thought.

She was brought out of her thoughts by Frederiks sudden voice "He let Atriox go, a failure is unacceptable for any spartan, believe me I should know". And she did, no other UNSC soldier had so perfect record as the Master Chief. Not that anyone was allowed to see it, after all it was one of the most classified pieces of information in the entire military.

"This Atriox is an anomaly ma'am, He can challenge him in combat, something that no other Covenant, Human or Promethean has ever been able to do. Excluding the Didact of course. For him not being the best is maddening and believe me, he will do anything to take Atriox down now".

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by a orange shockwave flowing through entire room. It send everyone flying, Palmer hitting the wall behind her hard. Even with her armor and helmet on she blacked out.

As she slowly started to open her eyes, the first thing she noticed was the terrible neck and head pain. She shook her head to get rid of the dicines and started to rise up slowly. Everything was pitch black. The others weren't doing much better she noticed, II's were already searching for the source of the event. They always were much more resilient she thought.

Palmer could see their headlights moving around the room, they were clearly talking to each other, through their private comms probably.

She started to walk towards the main command platform, searching for the Chief, by some miracle he wasn't flown off and was intensely staring at something helmet tilted forward, he looked like a predator now, stalking its prey and striking when they least expect it.

She was curious though, what could have gotten him so worked up? As she started to walk up the ramp connecting the main platform to the rest of the facility, she could see a orange light emanating from behind Chief's hulking figure. He had his back turned towards her, his gaze still unmoving behind that cold visor of his.

"What do you have Chief?" Palmer dared to ask, breaking the silence inside the room.

Without turning Chief answered "Our objective ma'am". This peekd Palmers intret and she picked up her pace, going around the frozen giant to "inspect" the mission objective…

She froze.

Bias was standing on the holotable but he was… different. His armor was different, looked more advanced than his previous set and he looked even more like his creators. The figure was standing on the pedestal his eyes closed mimicking the Chief's earlier parade rest. For a while nothing happened. Palmer was just about to question is he alive when the figures eyes snapped open. Revealing menacing red pupils both calculating and yet somehow...Comforting. Those were eyes of a person who has lived long enough to see everything the world has to offer. Eyes of a man who held the knowledge of millions of people.

Then he spoke.

"Reclaimer… So far we have come, some many battles we have seen and now I am one". He closed his again. Biases voice was the same, expect it held the same strength as the Didact's did. That strange low menacing background hum that put fear into his enemies.

He opened his eyes focusing on the Chief "For you now have saved me, I shall do the same for you". Bias raised both of his hands in the air and the command tower came back to life. The white rings lighting up one by one, Chief pulled out his weapon and pointed it at the figure "What do you think you are doing?"

"How the hell is he doing it."

"The AI isn't human, he isn't supposed to be able to start them".

Could be heard in the background. Osiris had also definitely noticed the events.

Bias turned his back towards the group and spoke "Watch and you will understand".

Chief could only watch as the white rings lit up one by one, each blinding light meaning they were one step closer to total annihilation.

Only three rings remained and Palmer already yelled the to embrace, even thought it would probably be futile, the beam was extremely powerful. It did travel through slipspace all and all.

As the second last ring lit up, Chief closed his eyes in anticipation, betrayed by their only means of escape from this wretched place…

Exept nothing ever happened.

Spartan John-117 opened his eyes and stared at the ai with look of confusion.

Bias smirked that wierd alien smirk of his and answered the unasked question "Seems like you have one ring missing Reclaimer. The ring that was send away before our arrival never arrived…"

"Someone captured it along the way" Chief finished.

"Yes and it doesn't take an AI to put this puzzle together spartan". Bias continued.

"Cortana".


	32. Chapter 32: Trouble With Communication

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 32: Trouble With Communication_

"This should not be possible, only a human or a forerunner can interact with forerunner structures and artifacts. Cortana should not be able to control the halo". Halsey mused. She was currently located in the newly established UNSC base camp. Decrypting and learning relevant information about the guardians… Or was until a call from Lasky cut her research off, she was irritated, everything was already harder without Cortana and her other arm. These interruptions were just slowing down the already slow research.

"Perhaps the domain givers her more power than I initially theorised. Taking in consideration she should not be able to control the guardians, why couldn't she control the halos too?" Bias theorised. He was currently standing on the main holo console onboard the Infinity's bridge, looking extremely troubled. His eyebrows were almost connected and his mouth was pressed into a thin line.

The blue team and fireteam Osiris was located in a sizable conference room aboard the Infinity, accompanied by Sarah Palmer and Captain Lasky. The atmosphere was tense to say the least. "Perhaps there's someone helping her? Giving her access to the forerunner devices?" Buck suggested.

"Who would willingly wish for the annihilation of everything that lives spartan buck? Kelly asked. "We are not The Covenant. Humans are made to survive, it's in our blood". Fred continued.

"I never said this person was doing it willingly. Perhaps she has taken someone hostage, forcing this person to do her will? She certainly has the power and the recourses to do so".

There was a long silence. They had been going at this for a while, getting nowhere.

Finally someone broke the silence speaking quietly, clearly still in thought.

"Or maybe she's more human than any of us can understand".

Everyone turned their gazed to the Chief.

Halsey was one to break the awkward silence "And how would she be more human John? She's an AI, created from a living brain yes but still just an AI". Her voice was even tho it held a slight seed of frustration, clearly she wished John could already see that Cortana had to be removed by any means necessary.

"If I may Doctor Halsey" Lasky cut in "Cortana did start showing human like behaviour during their short stay with us. She clearly longed for things that any normal human would have kept as mundane". Lasky rose from his seat to bring to emphasize his point "I overheard part of the conversation Chief and Cortana had before departing Infinity". Lasky locked his gaze with Halsey. "She longed to feel the warmth of the sun… To actually feel what she could only calculate as an AI. She wanted to know what touch would feel like, what it was like to love. Cortana didn't want to die, yet she made the ultimate sacrifice even after she fell to the depths of rampancy".

Lasky sat back down and finished "She has evolved to be something far more than just a simple AI that you created Doctor. I believe now would be a good time to see that".

The entire room fell quiet again for various reasons. Chief was grateful for the captains defence for Cortana. Palmer was dumbfounded that Lasky had the balls to step up against Halsey and the rest of the group contemplated the said words.

The silence was once more broken by a smooth but older voice.

"I believe both of your theories are correct spartan Buck". Captain Cutter walked in, flanked by spartan red team. "However I can only verify the first theory. Cortana might indeed have a human who's helping her unlock the forerunner artifacts".

Cutter walked around the table and was now facing the doorway. He took a deep breath and quickly gazed the present group of soldiers… and scientists.

"Before your arrival to Ark, there was a major battle against the Banished. We were able to push the Banished forces to a single point on the halo ring and Professor Ellen Anders used the halos Command Center to detach part of the ring. Taking the Banished forces to space, killing them all". Cutter took another moment to gather his thoughts and continued. "Everything was going according to plan, the banished carrier was successfully infiltrated and destroyed and the Banished forces aboard the ring killed".

Cutters gaze fell to the desk. He clearly took what was coming next very personally.

"What we weren't anticipating was the ring going to slipspace in the middle of the operation, Professor Anders still onboard". Cutter raised his gaze back to the group "She told us to hang tight and that it wouldn't be long till she arrived with help. I believe that this Cortana has put that plan on hold".

"If this is true then we have to get back to earth no matter how Cortana is using the forerunner technology". Locke spoke for the first time, his tone surprisingly neutral clearly more focused on earth's security than Cortana's humanity.

Palmer nodded "I agree but what of the Banished. Surely we can't just leave the shitheads running around the ark freely". Lasky glared at her, he was well aware of her ODST background but that didn't mean he liked her use of language.

"True The Banished must be removed before we leave". Chief agreed.

"Then what's our plan? We need a way of this rock and I believe Chief's last encounter with this brute Atriox wasn't very fruitful one. How will we remove such a powerful enemy so fast?" Lasky asked more himself than the group.

"My last encounter was a mistake I won't be making twice Sir". Chief snapped, clearly still irritated by his sloppiness in their last battle. "To kill a mercenary group you cut off its head. If we kill Atriox...We kill the banished. His followers are just believers and guns for hire. They will run away after I deal with him".

" _We_ will deal with him Chief". Chief turned to look at Kelly and was about to protest but the icy glare she was giving him silenced that train of thought.

Chief nodded "Alright, We'll end this. Us and the red team".

"How about the rest of us, we have a lot of assets in our disposal since the arrival of Infinity". Cutter asked pulling out the layout of the ark on the holotable.

"Roland zoom in on High Charity". Lasky requested.

"Will do Sir".

As the giant dead hull of the once proud capital of The Covenant emerged on the holomap Lasky started speaking "Two days ago Spirit Of Fires aerial scanners picked up strange activity near the used to be Covenant capital of High Charity. Something big happened there that day and I would very much like to know what".

"We had intel that The Banished were doing some type of a salvage operation nearby but High Charity has been protected by a giant energy shield since our arrival. It could be possible that The Banished found a way to brake it… and found something inside they didn't quite bargain for". Cutter continued.

"After these events the entire zone went quiet and sentinel presence increased by ten times". Roland took the wheel "All the sentinels were headed towards the Covenant capital and I sure as hell would liek to know why".

"Chief, take blue team and red team. Go inside the High Charity and find out what happened to the Banished" Lasky finally ordered.

It was pathetic really. They had lost connection with multiple fireteams near that area and still had zero information about the events that had occurred not so long ago.

"We will take two pelicans and depart immediately Captain" Chief saluted and left the room, both fireteams behind him.

So now we are about to get into the juicy stuff and probably the next 3-4 chapters will put the story on overdrive. I will also go and attempt to fix some of the shitty writing i've been doing in the first chapters of this fic (and some later ones :DD). I just felt I needed to point this out, I havent had many times problmes with motivation (Mainly becourse there is so much shit going on i nmy life, I don't get much sleep) but the few times I do and I search for Chief/Cortana fic's… THere is so little and 98% of them are abandoned...Just left unfinished with bunch of convicted and awesome fans begging for more. It is my wov to you that follow this fic (Witch is more than I could have ever imagined) is that I will not be leaving you...Ever.


	33. Chapter 33: Mistakes Of The Past

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 33: Mistakes Of The Past_

It was quite a sight. The symbol and religious center of The Covenant's government, High Charity was truly one of a kind space station...Or a city, depending on how you look at it. What made the sight even more absurd was the giant energy bubble surrounding the massive remains of the Covenant capital world. Cutter and Lasky briefed them that The Banished had been performing salvage operations and scrap runs for a while now and Spirit Of Fire's captain wanted to put a stop to it. However the problem was that the UNSC simply didn't have the recourses for a assault of such scale. Before the arrival of The Infinity, their forces were indeed quite limited. Now tho they could finally find out what had The Banished going off like they did...and where the missing UNSC scout teams went.

Master Chief was standing at the rear of their transport pelican, gazing at the fast moving stars above him. Moments like these gave him time to think, to recall old memories, good and bad.

"Don't give me that face Chief"

"What face"

"The one where your eyebrows narrow by 0,09 millimeters and your lips go 2% more thinner than normally. The legendary Master Chief annoyed face".

"Cortana nows not the time"

Cortana just pouted and put a hand on her hip, her signature position.

"What am I interrupting your fifth round of assault rifle cleaning duty?" Cortana asked giving him a knowing smirk.

Chief merely turned his head and shrugged "I'm not made for standing still and waiting for the inevitable to happen".

"Oooo, but thats why Im here, to keep the famous Master Chief from dying to boredom". Cortana opened her arms wide to emphasise her point.

Chief gave Cortana a small genuine smile "Did you get our orders yet?"

Cortana merely rolled her eyes at this "For the fifth time, we will get our orders after the admiral has returned from the press conference held right now on the command deck".

Suddenly Cortana's avatar's gaze turned distant and Chief knew she was probably watching the press conference (without permission naturally) "Think they are about halfway through, this means we have plenty of time". Chief simply rose an eyebrow and waited for the over energistic AI to play her cards.

Then Cortana disappeared and her avatar was replaced by a chess game, her voice however sounded from the pedestal's speakers "Come on big guy, let's see if you still have what it takes".

Now that was something no spartan would turn down. A challenge.

"Chief?"

The super soldier was brought out of his thoughts by a female voice behind him. Turning around he saw Kelly's emotionless faceplate staring at him. "You ok?"

Of course i'm not ok...she's not ok. "Fine, Kelly". John answered, hoping that she will drop the subject, it was a long pelican ride after all and he really wasn't in the mood to dodge questions all that time".

"You drifted off again".

And there went that option.

"Now, none of that Chief I know it, the others know it, hell I think Lasky and Palmer know it by now, don't even try to deny it". Kelly's voice was gently but had a commanding tone to it. Clearly she was frustrated by John's stubbornness on dealing with everything by himself.

Kelly knew John, could see under that emotional armor of his, blocking everyone but his closest friends and comrades from seeing how completely destroyed the man was from inside. She could see his pain and suffering, his unwillingness to believe Cortana could do any of the thing's she so coldly executed. His cold and calculating eyes were dim and they just didn't have that burning edge that they once had. Yet they also carried hope. As long as they lived there was always hope, always a change for a miracle to save them, Cortana and the galaxy from the event's that are currently haunting their future.

As Chief remained quiet and kept staring at her, she continued "We are a team, a family John. Yes we might have been separated for awhile and i'm sorry for that...that we weren't there when you needed us the most, but we are here now...and you don't have to do everything alone. Not anymore".

At this Chief finally snapped "I didn't have to do things _alone_ when she was there! She was always there!" His breathing came ragged and suddenly he got a terrible headache. Not that Kelly could see this, however what she did see was his shaking hands, even his armor couldn't hide their trembling. It was a rare to see Chief angry, in fact it was rare for him to show any emotion at all.

Not after Sam passed. Kelly thought bitterly.

Their argument was cut short by Fred who came running from the pelicans cockpit. "We are approaching the LZ but there is something wrong". Fred walked to the edge of the back ramp only centimeters away from falling down. He turned his head slightly and waved them over. "Have a look".

They followed him, Chief taking hold of the nearest seat and Kelly grabbing his forearm for support. They both leaned over and looked down and saw…

 _Nothing_.

There was absolutely _nothing_. No equipment and most certainly no Banished. Only thing there was a empty scarab, looming over a clearly forcely opened entrance.

Chief turned his head to face the others, pulling Kelly up with him.

After grabbing his assault rifle and making sure the magnetic lock was holding, he ordered. "Gear up, be ready for anything, Kelly inform red team, we will group near the entrance". There was no answer but Chief knew she heard and understood the orders.

As blue team stepped out of the pelican the looming silence became even creepier. The vast green hills and snowy mountain tops surrounded them, creating a calm and honestly quite terrifying environment. The massive scarab stood in front of them, abandoned and unmoving, its hull creating a shadow underneath it. About ten meters away was a small entrance, leading deep inside the abandoned capital.

They could see red team not far from them stepping out of their pelican. John noticed that they too were stiff and clearly on edge. The two teams exchanged looks and started moving inspecting their surroundings for any kind of threats. As they passed the small hole clearly created by the scarab, they arrived in a dark hall, only illuminated by the small burning fires around them.

There was a fight it was clear, somebody fought something. It was strange tho…

"Where are the bodies, there's every possible sign of battle yet not a single body". Jerome muttered, kicking a discarded and broken brute shot. It flew and smashed to the wall opposite of them, landing unceremoniously on the floor.

"Perhaps they already managed to clean up?" Douglas suggested, earning a sight from Linda "Elites don't "clean up" This was done by something else ".

"I agree but there's no point contemplating about it here, we should keep moving". Chief cut in, ending the short lived conversation quickly

The group of eight kept moving deeper into the smashed and ruined purple corridors, occasionally forced to destroy a malfunctioning door that had got stuck during the opening process.

"What part of the high charity was this?" Alice asked offhandedly, clearly far too distracted inspecting the giant structure around them.

Chief turned to her "Not positive but I might have used some of these corridors during my escape when the flood invaded".

Alice merely nodded, knowing full well after Chief's breakdown in their night of reunion that there was far deeper story to the escape of High Charity than what he just told.

"We have to cross the balconies that overhang the entire capital if we want to get anywhere, so why don't we cross that obstacle first and then thing where we are going?" Fred suggested earning small nods of agreement from everyone.

"Allright the fearless leader shall take the lead then" Kelly sarcastically bowed slightly and pointed onwards.

Under his helmet Chief had to smile to this, she always was the most human of the group. Always trying to raise the spirits with small remarks and comments, of course doing it in a way that it didn't endanger the mission.

Fred merely pouted and took the point. He was the first to step out of the dark corridors into the large space of the High Charity's top ,where the ancient forerunner keyship was once located.

And the sight before them was breathtaking to say at least. Not because of the beautifulness of the city or the insane size of the structure, but because of the immense destruction that was laid before them. Even Chief's eyes went wide, remembering how High Charity ones looked like… This was something else. It was barely recognizable anymore, If they didn't know they were inside a Covenant capital city, they could never have guessed their location. There were destroyed structures, crashed ships, caved in buildings and the once mighty ceiling of High Charity had caved in at the middle, burying half of the city with it.

"I'll be damned" Muttered Jerome quietly.

"Yeah, that would be the only way to describe this place". Douglas replied slightly bending over the edge, looking straight down towards the chaos.

"Let's not get stuck sightseeing, we have to find our recon teams and the Banished, if there are any left I mean". Kelly cut in, starting to walk towards the opposite end of the giant bridge structure.

"Yeah let's…" Murmured Douglas giving the city a last glance before catching up with the rest of the team.

Alright peeps gotta cut it there but I can assure you in the next chapter our spartans will indeed make a interesting discovery. Also I thank you, whoever defended me and other fanfiction writers in my comment section earlier. I DO NOT have anything against religion but this is not the place to spread your "word" If I may say. Go find someplace this stuff belongs but it's not here ok?


	34. chapter 34: Long burried, Now Revived

_Purpose Of Existence chapter 34: The Memories You Never Knew Hurts The Most_

Doctor Halsey was tired.

Jesus, she has stared the orange screen laid in front of her for hours. Its orange glow lightly illuminating the rather large research facility, given to her by Captain Cutter when they arrived landside.

She picked up the long gone cold cup of coffee and took a sip. Anybody else would have spit it out but Halsey had gotten used to the taste by now. "Long sleepless hours" She muttered setting the cup back down and forcing her focus back to the monitor.

She had done this for hours, almost two days straight with no more than four hours of sleep and it was showing. She had noticed that every passing minute she read the data collected from Maethrillian slower and slower. Missing a flew lines in the process, or so she thought, Halsey really couldn't be sure at this point. Not that she could afford to complain, everyone else were in this mess just as much as she was...Expect they had no hope of fixing it. Glassman was smart but naive and a bit afraid of forerunner objects after the Requiem incident.

So the task of finding them a way out of this mess was thrown over her shoulders, even tho she was still technically a prisoner. Lasky didn't seem to mind, he was a good man, quiet but smarter way beyond his years and that hurt of gold. A small amount of naivety mixed with everlasting kindness makes a man that should have nothing to do with warships…

Yet he was the perfect man to quide Infinity and her people beyond this nightmare, beyond any nightmare. He had earned the respect and loyalty of her crew by his actions, by being the captain they needed him to be. Not like Del Rio who ruled by fear, intimidation, abusing his captains seat to fulfill his need for power. To forcefully make others respect you.

No. That might work for the elites but no in UNSC. Yes you might survive and even rank up with those beliefs but true heroes are not born, they aren't made. They choose their own path and follow it till the end. She might have given the spartans the tools to save the universe, but she was not the one to fight those battles, she did not decide what was necessary to keep going, to survive. That decision they made themselves.

The spartans saved the human race.

And the quilt still follows her around to this day. She was the one to orchestrate the kidnappings, she chose who to take. They never saw their parents again. Never felt the warmth of their mothers embrace or played basketball with their father.

It was all necessary if we wanted to survive.

Yeah. That's what she tells herself to this day. Yet the quilt never leaves. She took John as her own, even tho she had no right to. Still doesn't have.

Halsey sighted deeply and stared at her lap. Now was not the time for this, there's too many lives at stake.

Yet she found her mind wandering if people like Thomas Lasky were truly able to be so great without any augmentations, were the spartans truly necessary? Were all those sacrifices for nothing? Every lost human... possibly destined for greatness, dead because she decided so?

Her melancholy thoughts were interrupted by a synthetic voice. "The decisions of the past are the ones that weight on our shoulders the most, yet on your shoulders I see the quilt of hundreds". Medicant Bias was staring her. His arms were limp by his side and his face showed almost...Saddened expression?

"Many thousands years ago a decision was made by the librarian". Bias paused to step aside and an image of the librarian appeared.

"The war as we knew it...Was lost. The flood was unstoppable after our mistakes with the ancient humans. So a decision was made to fire the halo super weapons to give you a change to start again. To give you hope for the future, a future free of the parasite". The holo followed Biases story and shifted through the events that shaped what the galaxy was today. Events recorded thousands of years ago, yet only recently discovered.

"Before the ignition of the rings Librarian hid seeds in your species genes. Seeds that would be passed down for generations until one day they would blossom and a human would be born. This human would have a gift and this gift would be so special that he or she would save the galaxy". Once again the screen followed his speechs showing images of heroes and geniuses long dead. Darwin, Edison, Faraday, Tesla, Napoleon, Häyhä and Carpenter.

"Do not dread over your decision of abducting this children and what you did to them. These events were decided a long time ago". Bias pausing for a moment, realizing how that sounded. His voice came out softer "Without the augmentations those soldiers would have been dead long ago. Master Chief included. What you did to them makes our current dilemma possible. It makes our existence possible". A image of their galaxy popped up. "If you didn't augment them, the flood would have prevailed and everyone would be dead. There would be nothing left to save". After this the holo shut down and Bias walked back to the center of the pedestal.

"The only thing that did not go as planned...Was the dead of Master Chiefs anchilla".

"Cortana? What does she have to do with this?" Halsey cut in.

If Bias was offended by her cutting in, he didn't show it. "Those two are bound by a bond far deeper than simple comrades in arms or lovers". At this Halsey's eyes almost popped out.

"Spartans against common belief do feel, they just bury it better than normal soldiers...But love? Spartans don't love". The statement could have sounded cold, and it did but there was cold, raw logic behind it.

"Ahh Doctor but this is where you are wrong. Love is not a thing that can be removed, attachment is a powerful emotion, putting other people's beliefs and needs before your own is something not done lightly". Biases stare suddenly got a lot sharper as he said out loud the last few words of his observations "It was decided thousands of years ago that those two will change the galaxy and mark my words. Their story is not yet at an end".

"Now I believe your console has been trying to tell you something for over an hour. I believe it should be most helpful in our current predicament". With that Bias disappeared. Leaving a slightly dumbfounded Halsey behind.

Halsey pulled herself together and made her way back to the console. Pulling her glasses back on and staring at the line the computer had picked off among the thousands of others.

Her eyes widened and she inhaled sharply "My god, how could I have been so blind?" Immediately picking up her tablet she contacted Roland.

"Ma'am" Was the passive answer after around 3 seconds of waiting. Halsey couldn't care less "Get me Lasky and fast".

"Doctor Halsey, I take it you have found something". The captain's voice was passive yet reserved. Not showing any hostility what so ever.

"Two things in fact". Lasky could hear loud bangs and small curses. Items being thrown?

"First you need to get my spartans out of High Charity _right now"_ The last part being emphasised.

"And why would I do that. You know just as well as I do that we need a way off this rock and High Charity is just as good place as any to start".

"Perhaps this will change your perspective on "how good" place it truly is" Irritation was now evident in her voice and a file popped up on Infinity's bridges main terminal/holotable.

"Lasky managed to read about three lines before Roland's voice cut in "My god".

"What is it Roland?" He could hear the fear in the AI's voice and didn't like it one bit.

"Sir I think I agree with Halsey". Roland pulled up the lines Halsey had been studying. "We need to get our spartans out of there right now". Lasky didn't even have to finish it before he was yelling to the nearest comm officer to get Palmer to the Bridge yesterday.

"Captain?" Halsey's voice cut through halting him in his tracks.

"I believe we still had the other thing to discuss". Was all she said. Lasky now turning around and shooting her a glare. "And what would be so important, as to overrule our soldiers safety?"

Halsey just gave him a look "I believe I have found a way off this installation".

Alright folks so I know this wasn't quite the chapter you were expecting and to be frank...It wasn't the chapter I was expecting to write but the Halsey/Bias think took much longer than I believed so...Here we are :D. Have a good one. All of you.


	35. Chapter 35: Hero's Past

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 35: Heros Past_

Now that the holiday hassle has been dealth with, I can get back to writing. In my defense I also add that this chapter was a pain in the ass to write so pls no torches :DDD

-ooOoo-

"You think you can get this door open?"

Linda gave Jerome a sideways look and walked to the door. She crouched and removed the panel covering the old Covenant technology.

Her eyes narrowed after her gaze had settled on the weird type of wiring "Strange" She muttered, gaining the attention of rest of the group.

"What is it?" Fred asked crouching down next to her.

Without removing her gaze from the wires she answered "It's extremely well protected against invaders, to a normal hacker or robber this would be impossible to bypass".

Fred turned his gaze to the door and back "Can you open it?"

"Never said I couldn't, just pointed out the fact. All the other doors have been easy to bypass, containing security expected from the ex-covenant".

An uncomfortable silence fell upon the room, only Linda's expert hands gave away the fact that there were any people present at all. Chief had been staring at the door for a good 5 minutes now, unmoving and without saying anything.

Alice put a hand on his shoulder, her worry could almost be seen through her helmet. "You alright John?"

Chief kept quiet staring at the door, by the time John answered Alice had already turned away and stopped stopped, slightly shocked.

"I know why the security is so tight". His voice was quiet, even the helmets mike had hard time capturing it. Finally John turned and looked at his team, or rather both of his teams now.

"This was the residence of prophet of regret…" Once again John looked at the door, then at the ground

He took a deep breath "...and the place where I found Cortana after I was forced to leave her with The Gravemind".

With that the door hissed open and revealed the vast amount of dead organic flood material and Cortana's holopedistal. The team spread around the room but John headed directly to the table. He knelt next to it, just like he had all that time ago after he had found her again. So well he remembered it now, the feeling of sorrow and the strange emotion he couldn't figure out until her death. So strong yet elegant. It forced him to keep going even though everything was falling apart, even when there was no hope, he kept running...and still it wasn't enough.

In the privacy of his helmet Chief chuckled to himself. What would she say if she could see him now? Probably give him some sassy sarcastic comment and order him to keep going. No, technically he was in charge and it was her job to assist him, yet he was more than happy to do anything she wished. Just to see her smile. That was all the pay he ever needed nor wanted.

Yes after her death he finally realised that he loved Cortana and he was ready to even betray The UNSC for her. And in a way he did by going AWOL. Because that's what love is. Putting someone else's needs before your own and John was ready to lay down his live for her.

During his musings John didn't even realise his hand had slipped on top of the pedestal and his train of thought was cut by a bright blue light as a hologram came to live.

Fred was the first to turn around and notice the events, calling for everyone's attention they made their way around the hologram, and a frozen John.

Kelly was the first to voice her thoughts, looking directly at John, mouth hanging half open inside her helmet she asked "Isn't that…"

"Cortana" Was his simple answer.

"I don't remember her looking like that". Fred inquired, Blue Team wasn't there during the end of war, nor were they onboard Cairo Station.

"She swapped her appearance often, never asked but she told me why anyway". Chief was slightly trembling inside his armor but he wouldn't show his weakness, not during a mission.

"First time she changed her appearance because she wanted to see if anyone would notice". This brought a slight smile on his face, remembering her invade his quarters onboard Cairo Station looking completely different than last time they talked...about a hour before.

"The second time she changed it was because…" Chief had to pause, the information he was about to reveal was extremely personal, especially for a spartan. Taking a deep breath he continued "She wanted to look good for me, even tho Cortana knew I didn't care what she looked like". Chief paused at this, touching the bottom of the hologram again. This time it brought up a old video file. Dated during her stay with the gravemind.

Instantly Kelly saw the date and put two and two together. She put a hand on Johns shoulder and said "John, you don't need to watch that. We all know what you will find and there is nothing else than suffering and heartbreak".

Not taking his gaze of Cortana's form and the video file he answered "I know, but I need to leave this moments with her...I need to know what she went through".

Fred looked at him for a moment, then turned towards Red Team "Jerome and Douglas make sure no-one enters this room without you knowing, This might take awhile". Both worthlessly nodded and disappeared into the shadows of the adjusted hallways.

Then he turned back to the Master Chief "Alright John, do what you have to do".

With that the Cortana disappeared and the projection widened, now covering the entire room.

ooOoo

Suddenly Cortana's voice boomed all over the room.

"It started as a seed. A purpose to change the universe. Every second The Gravemind nears me. Every second he gets closer to destroying my defences and when it happens…" Cortana's now human sized avatars gaze turned distant "I fear there will be no power in the universe capable of stopping it. I will hold, for how long? I do not know but that abomination will not take the index from me, this shall be my last gift to the world and If I do not return and you somehow find this John. Know that my last thoughts were of you".

Cortana started to walk towards the pedestal but stopped, she turned around and looked John directly into his eyes, like she was actually there. John had never seen her eyes so soft.

"If I don't make it out of this, then please take this as my last gift. You deserve to know, always did". With that she disappeared.

The room got dark and soon after a video started to roll. It didn't take much brain power to recognize Erinadus twor, his former homeplanet. The image zoomed in and a mechanical, emotionless female voice started speaking. "Erinadus two, known homeplanet of subject-117". The image homed in and targeted his a large collection of buildings and a sports field. "Subject shows exceptional ability to learn and adapt. He is already taller and has acquired more body mass than most of his class piers, an ideal candidate for the spartan program". The camera followed John as he walked out of the large building that he know recognised to be his former school. The image zoomed in even closer and showed a female figure taking his hand.

"Subject has a normal family consisting of mother, a father with military background and a sister". The satellite followed John and his mother as they walked to what john assumed was their former house. As the mother/son compilation walked the short steps to the houses veranda and disappeared a dossier popped up and John froze…

...It was a image of his mother and everything related to her. She was young during his kidnapping, only twenty-five. That could mean...No.

John shook his head to clear the unwanted thoughts away. He was too far gone to meet his long lost family now. They would be better of without him. If they were alive.

As the dossier kept slowly scrolling down, John noticed that many many lines were still blacked out. They must be under insane security if even Cortana didn't have time to crack them. He didn't doubt her ability to do so, but the war always took priority.

The bottom of the file did indeed confirm that at least during the time this message was created...his mother was alive.

And so was his sister. She was very young during hsi kidnapping and the picture was old. Very old, yet even without having much to compare her to, mainly Cortana and the spartans. John could already tell that she was going to be a beautiful woman...Or is a beautiful woman.

At the background a video of John's father scolding him for bad table manners was playing and John couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

This of course made everyone else look at him like he had grown a third head…

But after few seconds everyone else joined in the small laugh. Damn it had to be the first time in months that he truly genuinely laughed to something. The last time was with...Cortana. That AI truly knew what made him tick.

Last but not least, the file containing information about his father came up. He was a navy officer much like him. ironically he was smaller rank than John. This also made him smirk a little. What would he say after hearing his son surpassed him in rank so easily?

His smirk however disappeared as John read the last line. "Killed in action. In defence of Erinadus two and her people. Awarded UNSC Medal Of Honour for saving thousands of civilians from a covenant glassing beam…by crashing his ship and bringing down the Covenant carrier with him. He had been a engineer aboard the ship and the command deck had been wiped out by a crashing Covenant seraph".

John's hand fell away from the holotable and even tho he never truly knew his father, he couldn't help but feel sad, knowing he would never have the change to.

Yet it was a fitting end. He died like a hero and from that he could take strength from. He was also awarded the highest medal any soldier in the UNSC could get. Awarded for singular, conspicuous acts of individual gallantry and steadfast devotion among Soldiers, Sailors, Pilots, and Marines during times of war.

As the video came to a close Chief was about to turn away and order his team to continue their search for the missing scouts, Cortana's awatar popped back up and she started speaking "John im aware that your last name was black lined but I did this on purpose. I wanted to tell you your real last name myself. I know you most likely don't care about it at this point but I _do,_ and you deserve to know". With this Cortana took a deep breath and turned her gaze back to John. Again he felt a cold shiver travel down his spine. It truly was like she was here.

"John…"

"...Your real last name is"

"Incoming!" Whatever Cortana was about to say was cut off by Jerome yelling and a covenant fuel rod round hitting the projector.

For a moment John stood there stunned, staring at the now ruined projector that only moments ago was filled with recording of Cortana.

Then there was rage. So much bottled up cold raw rage. He hadn't lashed out after Cortana's dead, he hadn't lashed out during Johnson's dead nor Miranda's…

But…

But now, that was possibly his last memory of her old self. If things went wrong and goddamn if he didn't have the right to keep one thing for himself.

Chief's eyes grew cold as he unsheathed his assault rifle and charged past Jerome and Douglas, ending up right in the middle of the Banished raid party.

"This…" He started with cold voice "Is for Cortana".


	36. Chapter 36: Anger

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 36: Anger Is A Faster Pathway To Power_

During his lifetime as a soldier Fred had seen some things. Nasty things…

...But Jesus he wasn't a religious man but this was a bit too much even for him. Chief was brutal, like always...With the exception that with every kill he went completely overboard. Sometimes he would rip a brutes hand off or smack his fist deep into their skulls. Yet this was not the worst.

One of elites happened to be a veteran of the old human/Covenant war and actually had survived a encounter with Chief. With certain amount of luck of course. During the encounter, the Covenant cruiser they were onboard was in a duel against a UNSC Frigate and the room they were in took a shot. Chief was closing in on the kill when Cortana was forced to close the airlock, separating them both. Few seconds later the ships emergency backup systems came on, closing the explosion hole and saving the sangheili.

Only later had the elite learned of Cortana's existence and he decided that it would be a good idea to mock her "to set the demon off balance". Little did he know Cortana had died saving the Chief and was now the most sensitive spot you could ever mock.

Chief literally ripped the elites plasma rifle from his hands and _plunged_ it through his stomach, leaving the elite there with a shocked expression painted on his face.

One could say he was overreacting even for a loved one's death. But many don't realise that if a spartan creates a bond with someone...Well let's just say the phrase "When you truly love someone, they become your whole world". Couldn't ever describe what they feel for their partner or sibling.

So it shouldn't surprise him that instead of retreating, they were know pushing deep into the enemy territory. In fact they were nearing the bottom half of High Charity's wreckage. Despite Chief's less than necessary use of force, he couldn't argue with the results, the problematic part was that they still haven't found the missing recon teams.

Spartans simply don't leave mission half done and the Chiefs "finds" were not part of the mission. So this is how they find themself deep inside the High Charity and surprisingly they weren't in a firefight. The Banished resistance had stopped little while ago, every single one of them had fled, like they were afraid of someone...Or something?

Didn't matter now, all he knew was that they had to be vigilant.

"You know, it's awfully quiet in here?" It was Alice's voice and no one could really argue, it was indeed eerily quiet. The fact that High Charity's main power was off, made the situation even more creepy. Only few corridors were partially lit and the already dark purple color scheme of the ancient station didn't help.

"Covenant troops were aggressive but rekkles, this isn't like them, even if its a splinter group or a rebel group". Jerome agreed.

"Just one more reason to be ready for anything". John concluded, shuffling his hands through another jammed door and forcing it open. John let the door fall on his back, allowing the others to pass through before letting it go.

Coming down, the door made a loud screeching noise making everyone gringe.

Kelly and Linda shot John a look even tho he couldn't see it.

"Smooth" and "Subtle" The women said in unicon and kept walking leaving John there. He turned his gaze to Fred who just shrugged.

Silently the party kept moving forward, their time was running out and they knew it. Soon Infinity would start asking questions if they didn't report back.

"This is useless, our change of finding those teams is about the same, that the flood survived the firing of the halo". Kelly complained, she always was the one with little patience and would get bored fast...very fast.

"I agree but the command is getting desperate, they are taking every possible possibility presented to them". Douglas answered.

"You don't need spartans for a mission like this, any fireteam could have cleared the raiding crews The Banished had here". Linda argued.

"I know but alarming increase of sentinel presence makes this top priority. A few? Yeah there's nothing new to that but The Ark suddenly moved hundreds of thousands of sentinels here. Isn't that at all interesting to you?" Douglas countered.

Just when Kelly was about to retort they heard Chief's aggravated voice "Enough! I don't have the patience for this right now". No more was needed to be said, they were spartans after all.

"We still have to report back soon, what's our plan?"

Chief turned to look at Linda "Well clear as much as we can from the bottom half in a one hour timeframe after that we will circle back and report of our findings".

"So you are going to tell them about...You know?" To this Chief actually stopped and after a moment turned around. He gazed everyone present, his brothers and sisters. Closest thing he has ever had to a family after and before Cortana. He took a deep breath his gaze set downwards "I would highly appreciate if that would stay between us. And by us I mean this group. We didn't find anything related to this mission and personally I believe her last message was meant for me and me alone".

Everone stared at him. Even with their visors blocking their eyes, Chief felt uncomfortable. It felt like every single one of them is trying to pierce his armor and look into his very soul".

Finally Kelly broke the silence "So you are asking us to basically leave critical mission events out of our reports?" Chief gringed at that, of course he knew. Stuff like this got your court martialled but he had done it before, hell he even went awol for her. This most certainly weren't as big of a deal.

"I'm aware but…"

His explanation was stopped by Kellys raised hand. She took off her helmet, revealing the unnatural beaty to everyone. "There's no need to explain. We went AWOL with you before and freddy said to you "We are with you till the end brother" and i'll be damned if we aren't going to keep that promise. We are with you John, now and forever".

They were heart warming words even for a spartan. But there was no malice in her words. Had she ever and I mean ever betrayed or harmed John in any way? No, of course she had not and neither had any other spartan. They were his family and it was time to stop shutting them out.

"thank you, every single one of you". Chief nodded his overdue temper finally calming down. Kelly put her helmet back on and turned around "Alright then let's finish this and get out of here".

Red team shared a look and started to follow.

"Im so goddamn hungry".

The next thing they heard was Jerome getting smacked to the side of his head.

oooOOOooo

Ay dudes so i'm aware this chapter is long overdue and its content not that exciting. This is why i'm uploading the next one on tuesday, when I don't have school. You should know that we are nearing the end of the "ARK" Chapter and heading to the final one. Next chapter will also get a quite the "flying" start off and we shall see where it takes us. Thank you for staying loyal, all of you!


	37. Chapter: 37:Another Type Of Control Room

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter: 37: Another Type Of Control Room_

"Sarah I need a status report right now. You are about to enter the dark zone and we have to be ready to leave as soon as you find our spartans".

Palmer's gaze turned from the back of the pelican to the small holotransmitter standing in the middle of the pelican. Upon it a small clearly nervous Lasky. Tom tried to hide it but she had known him for far too long and could read him like a open book

She gave him a cocky smirk "You sure you have the situation under control Captain Lasky?" Her shit eating grin was ironically, exactly what the captain needed right now and after taking a deep breath, he gave Sarah one of those goddamn trademark gentle smiles of his that most definitely did not belong to UNSC. "I'm on the top of my game, _Commander_ " emphasizing the her title.

Sarah rolled her eyes and gave him a mock salute. "We are about 15 minutes out from both Blue team's and Red team's tracking beacon. They seem to be heading deeper inside High Charity and are to run into the believed crater caused by a possible generator discharge". Palmer checked her weapons and inserted them to their rightful place at her hipp.

"Once we touch down, it shouldn't take too long to reach them. Taking into consideration that they should have already cleared the path for us…" With this Palmer stopped and turned her gaze back to the wast landscape rolling past them. With a deep breath she continued "and hopefully, it stays empty".

Tom Lasky's kind, maybe even naive eyes scanned her. It seemed like he was trying to memorise every single detail about her. Their relationship was complicated, they both knew this. Frad regs could get one thrown out of military faster than Master Chief fell from earth's orbit and neither of them could afford that right now. She was a spartan, he was a captain. Both had sworn an oath to protect the people of earth and its colonies...Yet how can it sometimes feel so wrong?

The silence only lasted for a moment, yet for them it was eternity. "Sarah let me tell you this right now. You are going to get those spartans, you are going to bring them back to Infinity and then we are going to end this whatever the fuck you want to call it". This surprised her. Tom never cursed, even when he lost his temper he barely yelled, much less cursed. Yet here he was, going full on sailor slang rant. Sarah couldn't help but break a small smile and salute once again saying a quiet "aye aye captain" and ending the call.

ooOOoo

"We are nearing the believed chasm created by the High Charity's violent crash. I should warn you reclaimer, even I cannot get sensor readings from this particular sector. I believe the crash destroyed all of ARK's monitoring equipment and it will take time to get sentinels to repair them". Bias had been busy. The ARK's network was in shambles after the supposed "death" of Guilty Spark and there had been no one to repair it.

This however was completely expected and the digital chaos didn't surprise him at all. What however did, was that the sentinels had lost multiple cameras, motion sensors and other surveillance equipment for unknown reasons. He also had some suspicions about this so called "crater" the UNSC technicians kept blathering about.

"So you are telling us that we are going in blind?" Jerome quizzed.

Biases avatar popped up in the corner of his hud, his face had a deep scowl and the tone he used when addressing the spartan sounded like one a father would use when scolding a child. "As I just explained spartan, there is nothing I can use to get surveillance footage, besides I'm confident that this is not the first time you rush into battle blind young one".

"His right, we are going in, we have a job to do and a spartan never leaves anything half-finished. You should know this". Chief cut in, clearly trying to cut the argument before it happened. With this he kept marching ahead, knowing no matter what, his spartans were professionals if anything and…

Wait where did that come from. "My spartans" he muttered underneath the green/orange mask. Were they even his spartans anymore. He has not commanded a spartan squad since...Before Reach? Yes that's right, blue team was the only command his had, even Cortana was more of a friend than a work partner.

Goddamn they had they really grew so far apart? Why had he realised this only know. It was ironic really, all the time his brothers and sisters got injured and died around him but during his years of service, Chief had grown accustomed to everyone dying around him. This was one of the major reasons for his anti-social behaviour. Only very few ever got past his mask of incompetence and uncarines. Cortana had been the first after Halsey.

Now there were so little left, apart from blue and red team, Chief only knew few spartans that still lived. Most of them were reintegrated to civilian life, with varying success.

His train of thought was cut by Bias "Reclaimer, the way inside the supposed crater is located under what could only be described as a destroyed large grey box. I believe it is supposed to resemble a ship but I cannot be quite sure".

As they rounded the next corner and saw what Bias described as a box Chief's eyes widened.

It was a ship for sure, a very specific ship to be exact, the side of the said vessel was decorated with giant letters "In Amber Clad" The A and D were missing but there was no mistaking that this was his former Superiors and dear friends ship. This was Miranda Key's second last command. The vessel that brought them through slispace to discover the first Halo array. It was barely recognizable and the last he had seen it, it was stuck in High Charity's monolithic dome.

The others kept walking for few more meters until they realised they superior wasn't leading them anymore and turned around. Seeing Chief frozen in place, staring at the giant husk of a ship lost so long ago.

Kelly was the first to notice Chief's turmoil and started walking towards him. She always was the spartan most attuned to different emotions.

She walked a few meters, stopping only centimeters away from him. "You alright?" It was simple question, not forcing him to explain why he was like he was but offering a shoulder if he needed one. He wasn't a talkative person for sure, yet he really wanted to share this memory with them. A memory from a time when everything was simpler. You see Covenant, you shoot, end of story. Now however...It doesn't matter he can't delay there mission anymore because of his personal feelings.

"Im fine Kelly, we have to keep going". Oh was it a lie? Well yeah I giant one and he regretted it inmidielty after in came out of his mouth but they couldn't waste more time and Kelly was sit him down for a stern talking no matter where they were if she knew what he was thinking. Family was everything to her, Always was.

"Well have to go through the ship if we want to reach our destination. Its structure might be unstable so I recommend extreme caution". Fred stated. Chief merely nodded and took the lead again.

They entered through a hall that split the ships cannon bay apart. It was barely recognizable and even Chief had problems navigating inside the former stalwart-class frigate. First they passed the engineering deck, it was empty like expected. Even during his time serving onboard there were only a few engineers posted here in none combat situations.

After exiting they climbed one of the ships ruined elevator shafts, using cables and holes in the walls as support for their half a ton battle armors.

Chief pulled Douglas from the shaft and made sure he was in one piece, after he turned around and continued down the dark corridor.

"It's blocked, have to make a detour through the mess hall". Chief camly informed them, turning left and arriving inside the ghostly empty halls of IAC's main and only source of food. It was a creepy sight for sure, empty cups and plates still decorated the tables, left there by marines called to action in the middle of they supper. There was no bodies, the ship was evacuated before the crash.

"Lets keep going, nothing but ghost's here". Fred said clearly wanting to get out of the ghostly room.

"We can use the drop pod bay as a way out. Some of the holes must have been forced open by the crash. Chief told them. It was quite tight fit, seven spartans in a small staircase ment for marines and officers.

"Agreed, the faster we get out of this ship...the happier I'll be". Jerome muttered, pushing past a stack of hanging wires. The bay only held a few drop pods now, most used in the attack against the groundside Covenant forces during the initial attack. This left more than enough holes for spartans to drop through.

"Should only be a few meters drop, we won't need cables". Chief told them. Bias was constantly informing him of things he might have missed but even his vision was limited since only Chief's Mjolnirs scanners were available.

One at the time the super soldiers jumped down landing on a solid metal walkway overhanging a giant chamber. Both spartan teams looked around in confusion and it was Linda who broke the silence by asking _the question_ or more like stating it

"This does not look like a crater".

"Agreed". Jerome continued.

Kelly turned around and her eye's videned. "It's not a crater...It's a goddamn control chamber, but for what?"

Chief had turned around and was staring at the text empted to the chambers walls. Bias noticed his concentration and stated what the was thinking. "You know what this is, don't you?"

Chief turned his gaze to the rest of the spartans. "This is not a crater, it's a control room for the portal network linking ARK to various different planets".

"And we found our missing recon teams" Fred yelled, pointing at a pile of mutilated bodies.


	38. Chapter 38: Some Call It Luck

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 38: Some Call It Luck_

"The Banished did not do this".

"Yeah, its not their style. They are brutal but I have never seen them mutilate bodies before".

"Something else did this… but what? Last time I saw something as brutal it was during…" Suddenly Master Chief's gaze rose from the ground. He started frantically searching for something, anything moving besides them.

He found nothing.

The others were obviously confused by his strange behaviour. It was Fred who broke the uneasy silence that had taken over the group.

"During what Chief?"

Behind the mask that his helmet created, Chief closed his eyes. This was something he was not ready to return to, not so soon, perhaps ever.

After a moment of hesitation he answered "After the flood attack onboard this exact space station".

Fred's eyes widened. Now that he gave it some thought, it all made sense. Yet…

How?

The flood is dead. Chief fired the ring. Nothing could have survived that shockwave, they had nothing to eat, had they?

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, this could be a message or a symbol. If Banished haven't done something like this before doesn't meant they could not have changed their ways and seeing what this Atriox is capable of… this wouldn't be that surprising".

Kelly had to give it to Jerome , always one step ahead of the situation "I agree let's not jump to conclusions too early, we should deal with the bodies tho, take their tags, they deserve closure".

Fred gave Kelly a nod of approval "However small I agree, the faster we get out of here the better. I have a bad feeling about this".

"Chief, what are our orde… Chief?" Too distracted by the sudden appearance of the bodies, they hadn't even noticed Chief leaving the group and starting towards the middle structure, a pearl in shape, surrounded by a O-shaped walkway. The pearl was as black as the night sky and illuminated the whole room with its deep blue shade. A beautiful sight, not taking in consideration the situation they were in.

Fred stared at their leader for a moment, deciding the best course of action. Turning back to his small group, he ordered the dog tags to be recovered, bodies searched and once the deed was done, for everyone to regroup and figure out a way out of the wreckage.

After the teams had scrambled Fred turned around and jogged after the Chief.

John was standing on the raised platform, seemingly completely enormed by the giant ball. Even after Fred yelled his name John didn't acknowledge him. He just kept staring at the ball. Fred slowed to a walk and stopped beside him, trying to see what the Chief was seeing… and failing.

Fred did a retake and after failing a second time decided to ask "Chief? What do you see? Why are we staring at the giant ball".

Fred could hear clanking of metal boots behind him and gave the rest of their team a sideways glance, turning back to Chief who again failed to acknowledge him.

"That's not a bad question at all… Why are we staring at the giant black ball?" Jerome chimed in. Chief still didn't give an answer but raised his hand and pushed it inside the ball instead.

Jerome's eyes widened and he moved to stop him but Fred's hand came between him and the Chief. The leader of red team gave him a stupid look, even if Fred couldn't see it, it was so goddamn obvious that he almost rolled his eyes. "Stand and watch, I think he's onto something".

Jerome remained tense and clearly wasn't quite ensured, but still fell back and rested his uneasy gaze to the Chief, whose both hands were inside the ball now.

For a moment nothing happened and Fred was a second away from asking if John was ok when it happened.

The giant ball started to open, filling the room in blue light. Even the visors of their Mjolnirs had trouble keeping the bright light at bay and the entire group hsf to turn and look away. Expect John who apparently had watched the entire show materialise before them.

Two giant pillars of blue light emanated from the base of the now open ball. Both towering over them and disappearing in the vast darkness of the giant structure. Apparently the roof had been open, or it opened when the pearl was activated and it led to a giant shaft, how long? Who knows.

Between the pillars was a black hole. Giant waves circled the nothiness placed in the middle. Atop this unnatural creation stood a figure around 2 meters tall, wearing blue ropes that hugged her figure and left just enough for imagination to attract the males of this long dead species. A female forerunner, much younger than the librarian at first look she looked like a hologram, yet her presence commanded respect and her voice carried certain power to it mixed with a dose of softness and relieve. Clearly she had waited for this moment for a long long time.

"Reclaimer, at last". She gave John a once over and nodded in approval. "So far, your species have come. From the young cavemen you rose and conquered the stars, survived the trials of the Covenant and now...You will take the humanities rightful place as the holders of galactic mantle. Since your first days, I have admired you. Your thrive to survive, your absolute loyalty to your friends and family. Even breaking the laws thrilled in your mind since young age".

As she talked, her figure neared John and stopped only centimeters away from his face. "I have followed your achievements for a long time spartan, some might take me as a simple gatekeeper but I hold the keys for the galaxy. Where ever you want to go I can take you, thas is power of the forerunners". She paused for a moment, during her entire speech, she seemed to be ignoring John's teammates, only now for the first time she brought them up. "Yet I believe I know where your destiny is leading you. She's like a magnet, isn't she? Have you ever wondered why you are so attracted to her? Why the universe always seems to bring you two back together. Even after all the trials you have endured, sacrifices you've made...Your journey is not at and end. I will take you where you wish to go, but there's still one more trial to endure".

By now, her figure had returned to its original spot, floating in the middle of the circle. She gave Chief a one last look and spoke "Survive and you two will be united once again. I did not believe I would ever say this but… Good luck, spartan".

With that she disappeared and a ear breaking screech was heard behind them. Along with shouting and the sound of guns going off. Chief turned around and saw the carnage that was about to be bestowed upon them.

ooOOoo

Haudi! So i'm aware this chapter is shorter than my usuals but this was a way too good moment to pass and it needed to be done, I'll think about writing another tomorrow but I won't make false promises. If a may quote a quite legendary character that also happens to be one of the major figures of this fic "Don't make a girl a promise you can't keep" :D.


	39. A Giant Info Box

I _ASSURE_ YOU that the rumors spreading of my death are not valid. This is a info box of what is going on.

Before we go any further, I must apologise, because jesus I made the mistake of reading some of my earlier chapters (From 1 to 20) and my eyes are absolutely bleeding. My writing is absolutely awful and the cockines almost shines through my writing. I will try to remake the earlier chapters when I have time. Man you guys did not need to read that xD. Secondly I would like to thank 3X3llence, LethalJustice94 and Scattershot98 for their continued support and comments for this fiction. Always a pleasure gentlemen (and ladies dunno :D). Same goes to you all, thanks for hanging on, even after reading the terrible writing in the first chapters.

Thirdly and yes I know this info box is already getting out of hand, I have gotten a lot and I mean a lot of requests to show what Cortana has been doing and I understand you want to see her. The problem is if I give you content with her in it, I have to be extremely careful not to reveal my plans for the story since keeping you guys in the dark is a big point in my plot design. Hopefully this satisfies at least a little bit. We are slowly coming to a point where the entire story is centered around her and Chief so hang in there.

Then why there hasn't been any episodes or chapters.

I've been trying to balance this between my freshly started _youtube_ channel and im goddamn addicted to both. I'm not done with this and there will be many new stories after Purpose Of Existence.

School is actively trying to kill me...At least i'm pretty sure. There just has been so much to do and so little time.

After next episode is released i'm going to start a schedule of uploading ONE chapter a week. This way these gigantic gaps will stop.

So hang in there. New content is much closer than you believe.


	40. Chapter 39: Evil Within

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 39: Evil Within_

The screeching was ear shattering. The Control room was divided in four sections, all identical to one another. Even the advanced systems of Mjolnir or Bias could locate where it exactly came from.

Yet Chief did not need confirmation what it was, or where it came from. He had heard it so many times before. In so many places and battles. The voice didn't come from a single point, that was why no one could pinpoint it.

It came from everywhere.

And its numbers where overwhelming.

They came like a wildfire, burning everything in their path, leaving nothing behind. If it touched you, it burned the very skin that protected your body. The pain would be enormous and the after effects merciless.

After the pain subsided, nothing would be left behind. An animated rotting corpse, controlled by something far more terrifying than any mortal could ever hope to understand.

ooOOoo

I am The Gatekeeper. It was my duty to guard the gates of our vast Promethean empire. An unstoppable advanced technical race, who sadly after all its advancements, all its discoveries, after everything we did to make this galaxy a better place... lost its way.

It was once said, by a traitor, a promethean male, great commander and tactician, who betrayed his brethren for his own gains and believes, that one day… one day the promethean would crumble beneath their own might. That our very society and bride would cause our destruction…

We laughed at his face, sealed him inside a cryptum and left him there to rot.

Quite ironic. Isn't it? That he was the last of our race. The last hope for forerunners and he used all his knowledge and power trying to wipe out the very people we fought to protect from our fate. So they wouldn't suffer like we did.

And here I am, watching as the last descendant of our once mighty race, fights against the same threat that forced us to cause a galaxy wide genocide. Yet it is the only way, if he is to survive this one last struggle, the galaxy shall be saved and humanity will be set in their rightful place as the bearers of the galactic mantle.

But for now, my it is my duty to observe and guide this bearer of light. The last hope of humanity to face his future and when the time is right, finally end his long path of war and destruction.

ooOOoo

Immediately after Chief heard the all too familiar screeching sound he whipped around and faced the door, directly behind them. He raised his assault rifle, the rest of the party following suit.

The room was eerily quiet. The spartans enchanted hearing could pick up each others breathing. They could also pickup the closing footsteps, probably caused by a infected human or elite, since they were too heavy to be caused by a Jiralhanae.

The footsteps were closing in fast and for a moment the room seemed to freeze and everyone's breathing stopped.

Then there was a slam. Something hit the door and even caused a small dent. Chief was expecting another slam to force the door open…

...but nothing came. Utter dead silence. The silence lasted so long that Chief and Kelly actually exchanged a look and was about to drop their weapons to relaxed position when the door buckled in and instead of a horde of flood, in ran a very sweaty and out of breath Buck, followed by a panting spartan Vale.

"Wha…" Was all that was said in the room as the two spartan teams took in the view layed out in front of them.

And even Chief had to admit, it was quite a surprising scene.

After a few moments of panthing, Bucks gaze mover from his face to Chief's helmet and despite his state, he still managed to pull of that Buck certified shit eating grin. "So Master Chief, this is supposed to be your rescue."

John's eyebrows shot up at this. "Rescue, spartan?"

Buck was about to answer but heavy, running footsteps and gunfire interrupted their short conversation. Commander palmer and Locke came ran, turning from the U-shaped corridors and focusing their gaze on the gathered group.

Palmer nearly crashed into Chief, dodging him at the least minute, yet never slowing down her pace. She whipped her head quickly around and yelled "Spartans, now would be very goddamn good time to move!"

The Osiris members complied without a thought but the spartan II's were left there standing confused.

Then the screeching sound came again closer this time, Chief could already see the first spores peeking from behind the corridor. Thinking quickly he lodged his remaining grenades at the running abomination and started following the younger spartans, trusting they had some type of idea where they were going. His augmentations allowed him to quickly catch up with Palmer. She didn't know about the gate guardian and running away from her would not solve their problem of leaving The Ark.

"Commander"

It took a while for her to answer, even with her augmentations, they were very deep inside the High Charity and they had to be running for a while. It also didn't help that their augmentations were lighter than the spartan II's.

"We need to find a alternative route back and seal that champer. We found a way to reopen the gateway, but we need that champer secure".

Dodging another pile of rubble, Palmer quickly turned her gaze to Chief and back. "How much time do you need? We don't have the manpower to hold these things and I am not losing a spartan today, do you hear me Chief?"

"Yes Ma'am. I am not aware of the procedure but we found someone who could potentially help".

Now Palmers gaze turned and stayed on Chief. "You found the recon team?"

This time it was Chief's turn to remove his gaze from her. "Yes ma'am, mutilated and eaten. We don't have confirmation which one did it, The Banished or The Flood".

"If not them...Then who?"

Chief was about to answer, but the sight of a upcoming door console cut his thought. He ran to the console and waited for the rest of the team to run through the door. After that, he slammed the console and the door shut, cutting of the floods, for now, only way to access them.

Chief mind was already racing however, trying to find a solution for their newest predicament and the unlikely appearance of Fireteam Osiris. "Bias, explain the gatekeeper".

The AI was clearly expecting this and answered quickly and efficiently. "Once upon a time, she was one of the most respected forerunners to have ever existed". A image of a woman once again clad in a blue form hugging gown emerged on Chief's faceplate. This time she was younger tho, and the lines on her face nonexistent. "A offspring of a respected pacifist leader, her name, or the closest translation I can think off is "Seeker Of Eternal Stars". She was smart, brilliant, an ideal forerunner…

...In fact she was so brilliant that, she was entrusted with the care of Forerunners secret emergency teleport project, made as a backup plan for situations where forerunners were facing a intergalactic crisis". As the images continued to scroll past his face. Chief could see a small glimpse into the past of one of the mightiest races to ever live in their galaxy…

And goddamn was it sad. The gatekeepers job was a great honour, but it slowly ate away her, who she truly were and now she exist only between planes. Between one world and another. Not really here but not there either. She is a ghost, a reminder of people long gone.

Shaking his head to clear the unwelcome thoughts, Chief once again focused on the AI currently inhabiting his suit. "We need a way back to that champer, she told us there was a way to get to Earth and we are going to take it. No matter the cost".

Biases face suddenly turned into a expression of...pity? No sadness would be the right emotion. Strange, would have been the best term to describe it. It felt like the AI knew of what was about to come.

"Chief, still waiting…"

If he hadn't had his helmet on Chief would have massaged his tired eyes. He was getting sloppy and he knew that.

Probably reading Chief's stress Bias decided to take control.

"If I may, I believe I have located a suitable route with minimal danger for the group. We should make haste, The Flood will surely find a alternative path and we cannot hold them back in our current location".

By now Chief had managed to gather himself and put on his typical impassive mask. He turned to the group and started giving instructions. "Agreed, uploading the map now".

ooooOOOOoooo

And this will mark the beginning of my weekly uploads again. This time I have hired a friend of mine to kick my ass if I try to slip :P.


	41. Chapter 40: A Way Home

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 40: A Way Home_

It was almost an hour later till they pushed their way back inside the Control Chamber. Even with the help of Biases maps, the flood was everywhere and they just wouldn't give up, no matter what they tried.

So it was decided that they would collapse the hallways behind them, effectively sealing them inside the chamber, but also sealing the flood out. The Gatekeeper was their only access to outside world now and if she refused to communicate or saw them unworthy, well then this mission just got a lot more interesting.

"It wasn't this dark when we left".

Palmer gave Buck a deadpan look "No shit, the flood must have fried the rooms circuits, trying to vent us to death".

Chief pushed a ruined table out of their way. "The flood must have carried it around in their bloodrage"

"Yeah... Can you tell if the Gatekeeper is still here, or if she even survived?"

"This sections systems are too damaged to give any reliable information but as far as i'm aware, the flood does not know about the existence of the Gatekeeper, and so it should remain, she is too valuable piece of our history to lose now".

"I'll take every precaution available to prevent that". Chief could now see the floating pearl, it was closed again. probably to prevent the flood from detecting what laid inside it.

Once again Chief approached it, standing next to it, spreading his hands and pushing them inside the black slowly moving object…

And nothing happened.

Damn.

Chief pulled his hands out "Bias?"

"It would seem that the flood were curious of what we were doing with this object. They tried to pry it open by force, and paid dearly for it".

Suddenly all the lights around the room came back on.

"I have managed to partially restore power to this sector, perhaps this will help in our container dilemma. I believe tha..." Bias continued but Chief was no longer listening, his attention was focused on the thousands of dead floodforms lying around them, previously hidden by the darkness, now revealed to them.

"Jesus Christ".

"Yeah"

"And here I thought Christianity was a disappearing religion Spartan Locke". Palmer raises an eyebrow. Then quickly sobers up and turns back to the carnage around them. "But in all seriousness, this is not natural, whoever did this, is not natural".

"A necessary sacrifice, these abominations were standing in the way of this galaxys future and I _will_ defend myself until my role is completed". A booming voice spoke from behind them. Chief whipped around, pulling his rifle faster than any ordinary man could and showed it to the offenders face…

Only to notice the exotic but beautiful features of the Gatekeeper, her large slightly narrowed eyes were inspecting him, like a scolding mother would do after her son had done something bad.

Her hard features turned to address the rest of the group "I suspect me dealing with your enemies is not going to be a problem?"

Locke had pulled his helmet off and stared at the exotic creature standing in front of them. If he had taken a mirror with him, he could have swore his jaw was hanging slightly.

After a few intense moments Palmer broke the ice.

"Of course not, we just simple assumed that you couldn't… You know…"

Seekers eyes instantly softened "interact with your world you mean?"

"Yeah… Something like that." By now the spartans had holstered their weapons, Palmer being the only one who still gaped at the mysterious creature.

"I was once part of the world, just like you are now...I can still interact with it, but this is not where my destiny lies… No my path is elsewhere. It was my final duty to ensure your save departure of your once upon a time, brightest beacon of hope".

Now the pearl started to open more, drawing power from the giantic pylons surrounding it. The Gatekeeper turned to her gaze back to the Master Chief. "The pylon needs a few moments to charge, I will teleport you and your friends back aboard your flagship. After this I will open up a new portal, one that will return you back to your home".

A orange countdown timer popped up on a console next to the party. It said "00:05:00"

Suddenly I loud bang threw the groups attention. It came from the opposite side from where they blockaded the flood.

Fred gave a sideways look to Chief "No way the flood cleared the wreckage that fast, this is something else".

"Agreed, be ready for anything".

Without warning multiple shielded turrets rouse from the ground, the shielding paneling made way for these machines of death and turned into a miniature bunker surrounding the turret. "I have activated the last remaining defences in this sector, they will assist you until complete destruction".

When the doors blew apart, they didn't get the giant horde of flood they were expecting, instead thought charged 2 massive hunters, followed by a lance of elites and even more grunts. Their objective was quite clear as without any warning or last words, the small army started rampaging their way towards the small group.

Immediately upon entering their range, the turrets opened fire, clearly controlled by Bias as they were ignoring the heavily armored hunters and focusing their fire on the grunts and elites instead.

The first wave fell down quickly and efficiently. The hunters might be powerful but they aren't smart, both of them fell down to a simple flanking maneuver. The grunts took the brunt of the turret damage, giving the elites a few more seconds to try to get to melee range, yet even the legendary sangheili carapass can they so much damage.

The second wave was very much the same, yet bigger. Holding more hunters and even more elites. This time Gerome took a minor hit from a covenant plasma grenade, hurt like hell, but wouldn't be fatal, if treated correctly of course.

"More elites coming from the upper floor!"

"Need help here, think they are trying to crush me under their bodies!"

"Hunters incoming!"

And then… It stopped. Complete utter silence. Nothing. Only the sound of the charging energy pillars and the countdown clock.

Then a lonely grunt ran from the hallway, only to stop almost immediately after exiting the door.

The grunt was about to say something when a large mechanical hand grabbed his head, pulling him up and throwing its small body against the hard metallic wall behind it. After that a red eye emerged, and finally the rest of the large brute body.

"I have waited for this moment for a long time human. Thank you, for finding my people a way back to our galaxy. This scenery was getting quite dull". Then the brute turned his head back towards the large dark passageway and calmly said:

"The green one is mine".

And then there was chaos.

oooOOOooo

A day late but oh well i'm a busy man. I'm not happy with the ending, but I was running out of time and needed to get in done, might change it in the future.


	42. Chapter 41: From Dust

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 41: From Dust We Rise, To Dust We Fall_

This time the enemy was overwhelming. They came from everywhere and for every single dead elite, a new one took its place, for every single dead grunt, a small army came to replace it. They were getting overwhelmed, and they knew it.

Yet a spartan doesn't give up, so they didn't.

"Locke, behind you!"

This far the damage they had sustained was minimal, but if they didn't leave soon… They would all die.

"Reloading!".

"Where the hell are all of them coming from?!"

"I don't know, just shoot".

"Soon I don't have much to shoot with!"

"Use their weapons, buy time for the Chief!"

Vale ducked under a swing from a brute's gravity hammer, diving between its legs and stabbing her knife to its lower back, killing the already injured specimen. "Roger that".

"You should never have come here human, This time there will be no escape. Me and you, one of us dies". Atriox pulled his massive weapon from behind his head, leaving a sizeable dent in the floor where it landed. Chief only barely managing to dodge the peace of instantaneous death. He took a moment to look at Atriox, his eyes scanning him from behind his visor. Chief knew they didn't have much time, but he failed to kill this monster once before, he won't make that mistake twice.

"On that, we can agree". Lodging his last plasma grenades at the berserk brute, forcing Atriox to roll out of their way, Chief dived the giant, his augmented strength bringing them both down to the ground. Atriox tried to retaliate by punching Chief's visor, only to be dodged and getting butted to the head by a assault rifle stock.

Their fight was brought to a momentary pause as a explosion took place not more than a meter away from them. The pause was prolonged as Biases voice ringed from John's helmet speakers "Do tell creature, for being a Covenant exile, you most certainly know much about the behaviour and tactics of humans, may I ask why?"

"Bad time Bias".

Atriox managed to shove his hands under The Chief, knocking him up in the air and using his legs to kick him away, sending him crashing to the nearby guardrailing.

"Why do I know so much about humans?" Atriox took a moment and gave a low, dark laugh full of irony "I know so much about humans because this ain't the first time I and your precious Captain Cutter have fought for control of something".

This gave even The Chief a pause "wha". His musings were cut off by a haywire ghost almost crashing into him, forcing him to jump to to side, giving Atriox the perfect change to land a punch to his side, sending him flying again.

Bias however was unfaced knowing that the spartan was completely fine, if not bruised, fairly badly. "You have? Interesting, taking in consideration that The Spirit Of Fire has been lost for twenty-eight years, only known campaigns being the battle of Harvest and Arcadia….

And the forerunner shield world. You were among the Covenant soldiers following Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee".

Suddenly Jerome's face popped up in the lower left corner of John's hud. "Chief, I know Atriox is, he led a continent of Covenant troops against us during our battle at the shield world. He hated the Covenant, especially The Arbiter. This would explain The Banished".

Chief shook his head, finally pulling himself of the floor. "If he survived a battle of that magnitude and the explosion that followed, then it's all more reason to remove him".

"If you are done chit chatting, we are running out of time and I would very much like to keep my head where it stands". Chief turned just in time to see a elite taking a horizontal swing, missing Douglases head only by inches. Douglas caught the blade and twisted it out of the elites crasp, he activated the weapon pushing it upwards, through the elites chest.

Douglas gave him a nod and turned around, slashing another elite to half and pushing the corpse out of his way. Chief in the other hand turned his gaze back to the Chieftain. Atriox hadn't made a move against him he knew that, Bias would have warned him.

"So the little humans finally figured out who I am". Atriox picked his fallen hammer off the ground, dusting it with his other hand. "I was wondering when your teammates connected the puzzle pieces". Atriox moved his gaze from the weapon back to Chief "I always have respected you humans, in my own way. Your will to evolve and survive impossible odds still leaves me amazed". Atriox moved his hammer, know facing Chief fully and pointing it at his chest. He activated it, letting its red hue light his face and cybernetic implants. "But you stand in my way, and nothing will stop me from getting my revenge. I will lead the brutes to a new era and not you, or your crazed AI nor the UNSC can stop me".

Chief pulled his standard issue combat knife from its pouch, spinning it between his fingers, getting a feel for the grip. "You know I can't let you do that". He fell into a standard armed melee combat stance and waited for Atriox to do the first move.

"Your opinion wasn't asked, human". And with a might roar, Atriox charged swinging his hammer, trying to cut Chief in half, ending the fight before it even started.

Luckily Chief managed to dodge, grazing Atriox's hand with his knife, leaving a slight trail of blood falling along his arm. This didn't much effect the cybernetic brute and he charged again this time changing his attack patterns, making it harder for the Chief to keep up.

One of the grazed swings forced Chief to fall backwards, making him lose his balance in the progress, as he fell down, he spotted plasma pistol nearby. Dropped by one of the dead grunts. He picked it up and immediately rolled to his right, dodging another hammer blow.

Chief fired the pistol rapidly, not having time to charge it. Luckily this proved to be enough and Atriox took a few steps backwards. Chief quickly got up and charged towards the plasma burned brute, stabbing the combat knife into his lower stomach.

The brute howled in pain and for a moment there was silence. Even the battle had silenced for a second and it looked like it was over.

Then Atriox's distant gaze turned sharp and he pulled the knife out of his chest, crushing it in his grip. His now crazed gazze turned to him, it was clear that the brute went berserk.

"I will crush you for that!" The thing about a brute going berserk is, that they are faster stronger and even more violent than usually. Their blows are so fast that even spartan eyes are having trouble tracking them and Chief is forced to rely on his instincts alone to dodge and block him. Now weaponless, he cannot effectively counter Atriox's blows.

And this proved to be the fatal problem. As Chief wa so focused on dodging Atriox's blows, he hadn't noticed a elite sneaking behind him.

Chief only managed to turn his head halfway, till he felt the burning pain of a plasma sword entering his back, coming through his torso. It wasn't a perfect hit by no means, but still... it was bad enough.

Atriox wasted no time, stopping straight in front of Chief and raising his hammer, bringing it down to finish the job.

For a moment everything was quiet. Chief turned his gaze and inspected the battlefield, where his broken family and fellow soldiers were dying for a cause much larger than themselves. They were dying so he could succeed…

And he failed.

Palmer had a bloody gash just under her mouth. Locke was mostly fine but exhaustion shined from his actions. Vale's left arm was clearly broken. Something that should be nearly impossible, amazing what these spartans can do. Tanaka's Mobile minigun was in pieces and she was using her combat knife to hold off two elites simultaneously. The spartan II's were faring better but even they can't hold on forever.

John turned his gaze back to the hammer. It was now coming down and for a second he felt at peace. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable to come.

Except it never came.

"It's not your time yet John, your future is among the stars, with me"

After few moments he reopened his eyes… Only to see Douglas desperately fighting Atriox back, it was clear he had taken the attack for him and that his injuries were severe. He wouldn't hold out for long.

John tried to get up but the plasma wound was insanely painful, even his suits biofoam dispensers had hard time compensating for the damage. He had no other option but to watch as Douglas took blow after blow, eventually being cornered into a group of elites, being forced to fight Atriox.

"Now I will make him watch, as you die, human"

Douglas tried one final push against his overwhelming opponent, dodging Atriox's strike and bringing his plasma sword down, cutting nearly half of his natural hand away…

And paying for that damage with his life. Atriox grabbed his throat with his metallic hand, and pushed with everything he had, crushing the weakened spartans throat. After a moment he let go and Douglas's lifeless body dropped to the ground.

For a good five seconds nothing happened. Then Jerome's distressed yell could be heard from the background. He wanted to get to his brothers side but was caught off by a pair of elites and forced into a fight.

Chief's mind was numb. So many of them dead. First nearly all his siblings, then Keyes, then Miranda, and after that...Cortana. He believed nothing could make this universe worse.

Funny.

Guess he was wrong.

His thoughts were ruined by Kelly's distressed voice. Of course it would be Kelly. She always was the one to worry, always the one most human from their messed up family. If it could be called that.

Then he heard her yell again. This time a cry of pain.

And then everything went red.

Chief got up from the ground, his eyes were focused on one single thing and that was Atriox. He didn't care that this wasn't the most efficient approach. He Didn't care that his wounds were on fire or that he was bleeding immensely.

Two elites tried to stop him, but he simply dodged their energy sword trikes, catching the other sword from the middle and twisting it, breaking the elite shand. The creatures yell of pain was cut in half literally as Chief continued to progress towards Atriox. You could see surprise even in the old warchiefs face, now calmed down from his bloodlust.

Suddenly John started to run, few more of Atriox's forces tried to intervene but were cut off by Locke and Palmer.

Atriox finally managed to pull himself out of his surprised haze and tried to swing at Chief, only for him to jump over his hammer, taking his metallic arm in the progress and twisting it backwards. Even though the battle you could hear the arms metallic motors fighting against the enraged spartans inhuman strength. You could hear the groaning and violent metallic sounds of the slowly twisting arm.

And then it happened. With a large shrieking sound, Chief twisted Atriox's metallic arm, clean of its socket, causing the warchief to roar from the insane pain. Finally Chief picked up the hammer Atriox had dropped. A feat not possible for many. And raised it above his head, bringing it down and smashing the now dead Banished leards skull in.

Then Chiefs vision cleared and he took a few steps backwards. He was too confused on what was going on to even realise that the room had fell silent and that everyone was watching him.

For a moment he only stared at the headless corpse that was once known as Atriox…

And then he passed out, completely losing consciousness from the strain and blood loss.


	43. Chapter 42: Escape From Ark

_Purpose Of Existence Chapter 42: Escape From Ark_

You guys have no idea how relieving it is to get out of school, at least for few months Jesus xd. Now I have nothing to stop my uploads (except personal lazines :D).

FoxsoulRedux: Thank you for your comment, always nice to see new faces brave enough to type what they think. I'm not afraid to take critic, its what ultimately makes these stories better but could you be more specific, are the spelling errors more of a problem during the earlier chapters or the later ones? I never believed this fic to blow up the way it did so I ask you to understand I haven't had the time to get a beta reader, and my native language is finnish.

Everyone else too, don't be afraid to give your ideas and thoughts, they help a lot.

oooOOOooo

When Chief opened his eyes for the first time, after a moment of hazines he realised he was still being dragged, or carried? Shit, everything felt numb. His chest hurt like hell and his head throbbed, almost felt like somebody had kicked him while being down.

He could hear distant gunfire, or at least it felt distant, everything felt distant to be all honest. He could make out a blurry line of blue and brown running behind him. That means Fred must be the one dragging him. Or someone from red team, where the hell even are they? Chief shook his head trying to clear the hazines out of his gaze, and failing miserably.

Chief got a moment of clarity realising there was no hud to inspect, when did he lost his helmet? And why the hell did his chest hurt so goddamn much. Someone must have realised that he was afraid since they were slowing down. He could now make out the approaching blue figure as Kelly, her helmet was also off and there was a nasty bruise running alongside her cheek, her bottom lip was also swollen and there was a plasma burn on her upper left chest.

She crouched down next to him, the gunfire was still present, that must mean they don't have much time. Why are they even slowing down?

"Chief!" That voice was most definitely Kelly's, impossible to misplace. "John, look at me, can you hear me?" Kelly could see his eyes moving, it seemed like he was searching for her, but couldn't pinpoint where the voice was coming from. "We need to get him back to the Infinity, a concussion that hard and a stab wound cannot go untreated for long".

Palmer and the others merely nodded, Fred who was dragging Chief now pulled him over his shoulder. No small feet, taking in consideration that the man even without his Mjolnir was too heavy for most to lift or even move.

He almost lost consciousness again, Fred's running wasn't exactly the most stable, their hurry was evident in his long strides. "Bias?"

"Yes Reclaimer, i'm here". Confused Chief tried to look around, his voice wasn't coming from his helmet speakers, it was coming from… wait.

He had no helmet. Chief managed to raise his head, and saw that the source of Biases voice was Kelly's helmet speakers, instead of his own lost one.

"How did we end up here?"

"We entered the gatekeepers portal, it teleported us to a nearby forest, close to one of your randevu landing points, it is also worth noting that the portal that originally brought you here, seems to have reopened. The Infinity and The Spirit of Fire are already moving towards it".

A explosion down the path interrupted them. The convoy however didn't stop, they didn't have time to reassess the situation, it would be their demise. Sometimes the only solution is to run.

"Seems like the uglies got themselves some heavy weaponry".

"No shit buddy!"

"just do yourself a favor and keep running!

"Roger that commander, any further orders?"

"Jesus Buck, how do you always manage to find the worst times?"

"Cause i'm the best at everything I do ma'am".

Palmer could image his grin behind that helmet, and oh boy did she want to punch him right here and now.

They around 600 meters away from the landing point when a thought hit Alice "What should we do about the flood, we can't just leave them here. They will find a way to escape, they always do?"

It was Bias that answered her question, it wasn't quite what she was expecting.

"I believe the gatekeeper, has the flood under control. They will be dealt with, focus on getting yourself aboard your vessel spartan".

ooOOoo

It spread throughout the soldiers like wildfire. A spark of hope. Everyone could see the portal opening above them. Perhaps there finally was a way home. Perhaps this war wasn't completely hopeless. And some of them even had doubted the spartans chance of success.

Sergeant Smith wasn't one of them. He knew the spartans would succeed. He always had admired their work and selfishness.

What he didn't expect, was three teams worth of spartans running through a small gap in the dense forest, rushing towards them.

All of them had taken quite the beating, but one stood out from the rest. Nobody could mistake the silent giant with his green armor, thrown over another spartans shoulder. It was clear activating that portal had not been as simple as many would have thought.

The spartans barely glanced his way as they rushed inside the three pelicans currently landed on top of the small forerunner platform. He barely made it inside himself as the pelicans blasted of towards The infinity, leaving the giant artificial world behind them.

As Fred set The Chief down, Kelly was already darting towards the nearest medical kit. Meanwhile Palmer had made her way towards the nearest holo uplink and started a connection with Lasky.

It barely managed to beep, when the Captains face popped up. Sarah didn't even give him a chance to talk.

"Please tell me that portal takes us to earth. I'm really not interested in going another galaxy wide adventure like the dear Chief there on the floor".

Tom's eyes widened for a moment "The Chief's on the floor? Why?.. Never mind, yes Glassman's initial calculations, very very rushed calculations might I add, do indicate that portal should take us to earth".

"That egghead better be right Tom or I'll ship him out the science bay airlock so fast he doesn't even have time to call for help".

One of Tom's eyebrows rose to his hairline. "Should I post guards into his laboratory Sarah?"

"They won't help and you know it".

At that Tom cracked a small smile. The tension in the Captain was evident. The events of these last few days had taken quite the toll on him.

"Just get yourself aboard Commander so we can get the hell out of here ok". After that the link was cut, and in the privacy of her own helmet Sarah Palmer gave a small smile. "Roger that, captain".

ooOOoo

Meanwhile the Chief's state was only getting worse, he had lost consciousness again and he was losing a lot of blood. The plasma sword wound Cauterized itself, but all his other plasma burns, like ones from his own grenades, still ate his flesh. If they couldn't get him to a medicalbay, they would lose him.

Linda watched John's struggle silently. She was a calm person, she calculated everything before it happens and thought of different variations of different situations, making plans to counter them. It was in her blood to remain calm.

Yet when she was injured, he had come to her aid. He didn't care about her personality, nor her attitude. He knew her in and out. Even if they didn't talk much.

So she dropped her beloved sniper rifle and ran to the pelicans cockpit, pulling the original pilot out of his chair, not caring about the protocol or his protests and took the controls for herself. The flood might not have had any way to follow them yet, but that didn't meant they didn't have anything to try to shoot them down with.

And oh boy did they try. Even with her advanced concentration and spartans coolness, it was difficult to dodge everything coming their way, putting it lightly.

If it were up to her, they would be going straight up, but that meant keeping Chief stable would be impossible. So she was forced to gain altitude relatively slowly, thus slowing their progress majorly.

When The Infinity finally came to vision, Linda had taken major damage to one of the pelicans wings, and the cockpit glass had been broken by a lucky cannonshot. Only her helmet and armor saved her from the immediate death of vacuum. With the majority of control lost, she was forced to crashland the pelican inside on of The Infinity's many hangars...again.

After she had "landed" the ship, Chief was immediately rushed to medical bay, followed by about half of the spartans who were part of the operation. She had taken the most little damage and thus stayed behind to clean up the situation.

She was also the only one, along the hangar bay crew and the bridge to witness, what was coming next.

The center of The Ark started to glow yellow. From the core, long lines started to spread around, slowly covering its entire surface. It looked absurd. Suddenly all the grass and animals, trees and plants looked so out of place. It looked like some type of glitch from a video game.

For few minutes it just remained like this and when The Infinity entered the portal, entering their way back to home…

The entire ark exploded. Causing a ginormous supernova, destroying everything around it.


	44. Revival?

So now would be a good time to peek from behind that wall.

"You sure it's safe?"

O hell no, theres around 100 to 1000 viewers trying to figure out where the hell you disappeared to.

"Oh"

Yeah.

….

"Eh hi? So that happened. It's been… Quite a while hasn't it?"

You remember the promise you made?

"Which one?"

The one where you told everyone this story would not be abandoned?

"Oh yeah that one…"

ALLRIGHT seriously.

I disappeared again, so what happened? I'm a finnish man and this means when you finally reach the age of 18, everything goes to shit. For example:

Universal conscription. Every male has to join the army, im going to very soon, after I finish school.

Witch brings me to my second point, school. I'm finishing high school very soon, so next friday the fist of my finale exams well begin and preparing for those has been awful.

Thirdly, my drivers license (witch is almost done now). Is very hard to get in Finland. There are tests and classes and driving lessons.

Finally, As many of you may have noticed, I was in a small "argument" with a outside creator over how my story should have gone, or should go and some of the things he (or she couldn't care less to be honest) said made me run out of motivation. For a long time I kept thinking that "what could have gone so wrong" or "Is my writing really that garbage?". Now that I have thought about it, yeah my earlier writing was a mess and I acknowledge that, this is something I can later fix, when my live isn't so goddamn hectic. But this little shitstorm also made me realise that I do not write for the haters, I write for you, those loyal boys and girls, men and women who read my stories and like them. You might correct some things or give suggestions, but never hate and this is why i'm going to continue this story as soon as I can.

I'm sorry for disappearing on you all.


	45. A Major Update!

As per many reviews (some more or less hate comments but "shrug") and careful (or not so careful, wasn't really necessary) reviewing of my own content...

I've decided to rework nearly the entire story, grammatically I mean. The plotline itself will stay the same, no major changes will happen, but I will retell the story with much more adult and matured writing style, so everyone can enjoy it.

I do not usually ask for reviews, but I would like some of you to re-read my reworked first chapter and give me your thoughts.

I will keep you updated on what's going on with the story.

My new uploading schedule will go somewhat like this:

5 reworked chapters and one new chapter, repeat. This will continue until i've redone the story.

I'm aware this might frustrate some of you, but I cannot stand how bad my grammar is during the earlier chapters and I simply wasn't mature enough at the time to understand my shortcomings.

Have a good day.


End file.
